/ 


THE  IRON  FURNACE: 


OK, 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION. 


BY 

REV.  JOHN  H.  AUGHEY, 

A      R  £  F  U  Q  £  K       FROM       M  I  Vs  I'  Sr  8  I  I>  P  I 


Cursed  be  the  matt  that  obeyeth  not  the  words  of  this  covenant,  which  I 
commanded  your  fathers  in  the  day  that  I  brought  them  forth  out  of  the  land 
of  Egypt,  from  the  Iron  Furnace.— Jer.  xi.  3,  4.  See  also,  1  Kings  viii.  51. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
WILLIAM   S.   &   ALFRED   MARTIEN. 

606    CHESTNUT   STREET. 

1863. 


Entered,  .according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1863, 
BY  WILLIAM  S.  &  ALFRED  MARTIEN, 

In  the  office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  District  Court  for  the 
Eajskern. District  of  Pennsylvania. 


TO  MY  PERSONAL  FRIENDS 
REV.  CHARLES   C.  BEATTY,  D.  D.,  LL.D., 

OF    STEUBENVILLB,  OHIO, 

Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  (0.  S.)  Presby 
terian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
and  long  Pastor  of  the  Church  in  which 
my  parents  were  members,  and 
our  family  worshippers ; 

REV.   WILLIAM   PRATT   BREED, 

Pastor  of  the  West  Spruce  Street  Presbyterian  Church,  of 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania; 

GEORGE   HAY   STUART,  ESQ., 

OF   PHILADELPHIA,  PA., 

The  Philanthropist,  whose  virtues  are  known  and 
appreciated  in  both  hemispheres, 

THIS    VOLUME    IS    AFFECTIONATELY   INSCRIBED. 


44G77Q 


PREFACE. 


A  CELEBKlTED  author  thus  writes :  "  Posterity 
is  under  no  obligations  to  a  man  who  is  not  a 
parent,  who  has  never  planted  a  tree,  built  a 
house,  nor  written  a  book."  Having  fulfilled 
all  these  requisites  to  insure  the  remembrance 
of  posterity,  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the 
author's  name  shall  escape  oblivion. 

It  may  be  that  a  few  years  will  obliterate  the 
name  affixed  to  this  Preface  from  the  memory 
of  man.  This  thought  is  the  cause  of  no  con 
cern.  I  shall  have  accomplished  my  purpose 
if  I  can  in  some  degree  be  humbly  instrumen 
tal  in  serving  my  country  and  my  generation, 
by  promoting  the  well-being  of  my  fellow- 
men,  and  advancing  the  declarative  glory  of 
Almighty  God. 

This  work  was  written  while  suffering  in 
tensely  from  maladies  induced  by  the  rigours 
of  the  Iron  Furnace  of  Secession,  whose  seven 
fold  heat  is  reserved  for  the  loyal  citizens  of 
1*  (5) 


6  PREFACE. 

the  South.  Let  this  fact  be  a  palliation  for 
whatever  imperfections  the  reader  may  meet 
with  in  its  perusal. 

There  are  many  loyal  men  in  the  southern 
States,  who  to  avoid  martyrdom,  conceal  their 
opinions.  They  are  to  be  pitied — not  severely 
censured.  All  those  southern  ministers  and 
professors  of  religion  who  were  eminent  for 
piety,  opposed  secession  till  the  States  passed 
the  secession  ordinance.  They  then  advocated 
reconstruction  as  long  as  it  comported  with 
their  safety.  They  then,  in  the  face  of  danger 
and  death,  became  quiescent — not  acquiescent, 
by  any  means— and  they  now  "bide  their  time," 
in  prayerful  trust  that  God  will,  in  his  own 
good  time,  subvert  rebellion,  and  overthrow 
anarchy,  by  a  restoration  of  the  supremacy  of 
constitutional  law.  By  these,  and  their  name 
is  legion,  my  book  will  be  warmly  approved. 
My  fellow-prisoners  in  the  dungeon  at  Tupelo, 
who  may  have  survived  its  horrors,  and  my 
fellow-sufferers  in  the  Union  cause  throughout 
the  South,  will  read  in  my  narrative  a  tran 
script  of  their  own  sufferings.  The  loyal  citi 
zens  of  the  whole  country  will  be  interested  in 
learning  the  views  of  one  who  has  been  con 
versant  with  the  rise  and  progress  of  secession, 
from  its  incipiency  to  its  culmination  in  rebel- 


PKEFACE.  7 

lion  and  treason.  It  will  also  doubtless  be  of 
general  interest  to  learn  something  of  the 
workings  of  the  "peculiar  institution,"  and  the 
various  phases  which  it  assumes  in  different 
sections  of  the  slave  States. 

Compelled  to  leave  Dixie  in  haste,  I  had  no 
time  to  collect  materials  for  my  work.  I  was 
therefore  under  the  necessity  of  writing  with 
out  those  aids  which  would  have  secured  greater 
accuracy.  I  have  done  the  best  that  I  could 
under  the  circumstances ;  and  any  errors  that 
may  have  crept  into  my  statements  of  facts,  or 
reports  of  addresses,  will  be  cheerfully  rectified 
as  soon  as  ascertained. 

That  I  might  not  compromise  the  safety  of 
my  Union  friends  who  rendered  me  assistance, 
and  who  are  still  within  the  rebel  lines,  I  was 
compelled  to  omit  their  names,  and  for  the 
same  reason  to  describe  rather  indefinitely  some 
localities,  especially  the  portions  of  Ittawamba, 
Chickasaw,  Pontotoc,  Tippah,  and  Tishomingo 
counties,  through  which  I  travelled  while 
escaping  to  the  Federal  lines.  This  I  hope  to 
be  able  to  correct  in  future  editions. 

Narratives  require  a  liberal  use  of  the  first 
personal  pronoun,  which  I  would  have  gladly 
avoided,  had  it  been  possible  without  tedious 


g  PREFACE. 

circumlocution,   as  its  frequent  repetition  lias 
the  appearance  of  egotism. 

I  return  sincere  thanks  to  my  fellow-prisoners 
who  imperilled  their  own  lives  to  save  mine, 
and  also  to  those  Mississippi  Unionists  who  so 
generously  aided  a  panting  fugitive  on  his  way 
from  chains  and  death  to  life  and  liberty.  My 
thanks  are  also  due  to  Rev.  William  P.  Breed, 
for  assistance  in  preparing  my  work  for  the 

press. 

I  am  als)  under  obligations  to  Rev.  Francis 
J.  Collier,  of  Philadelphia;  to  Rev.  A.  D. 
Smith,  D.  D,  and  Rev.  J.  R.  W.  Sloane,  of 
New  York,  and  to  Rev.  F.  B.  AVheeler,  of 
Poughkeepsie,  New  York. 

May  the  Triune  God  bless  our  country,  and 
preserve  its  integrity  1 

JOHN  HILL  AUGHEY. 

FKBIIUAEY  1,  18G3. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEK    I. 

SECESSION. 

Speech  of  Colonel  Drane — Submission  Denounced — North 
ern  Aggression — No  more  Slave  States — Northern  isms — 
Yankees'  Servants — Yankee  inferiority — Breckinridge, 
or  immediate,  complete,  and  eternal  Separation — A  Day 
of  Rejoicing — Abraham  Lincoln,  President  elect — A 
Union  Speech — A  Southerner's  Reasons  for  opposing 
Secession — Address  by  a  Radical  Secessionist — Cursing 
and  Bitterness — A  Prayer — Sermon  against  Secession — 
List  of  Grievances — Causes  which  led  to  Secession,  13 — 49 


CHAPTEE   II. 

VIGILANCE  COMMITTEE   AND  COURT-MARTIAL. 

The  election  of  Delegates  to  determine  the  status  of  Missis 
sippi — The  Vigilance  Committee — Description  of  its  mem 
bers — Charges — Phonography — No  formal  verdict — Dan 
ger  of  Assassination — Passports — Escape  to  Rienzi — 
Union  sentiment — The  Conscript  Law — Summons  to  at 
tend  Court-Martial — Evacuation  of  Corinth — Destruction 
of  Cotton — Suffering  poor — Relieved  by  General  Hal- 
leek  50—69 


CHAPTEE    III. 

ARREST,  ESCAPE,  AND  RECAPTURE. 

High  price  of  Provisions — Holland  Lindsay's  Family — The 
arrest — Captain  Hill — Appearance  before  Colonel  Brad- 
fute  at  Fulton — Arrest  of  Benjamin  Clarke — Bradfute's 

(9) 


10  CONTEXTS. 

Insolence— General  Chalmers— The  clerical  Spy— Gene 
ral  Pfeifer — Under  guard — Priceville — General  Gordon — 
Bound  for  Tupelo — The  Prisoners  entering  the  Dungeon — 
Captain  Bruce — Lieutenant  Richard  Malone — Prison  Fare 
and  Treatment — Menial  Service — Resolve  to  escape — 
Plan  of  escape — Federal  Prisoners — Co-operation  of  the 
Prisoners — Declaration  of  Independence — The  Escape — 
The  Separation — Concealment — Travel  on  the  Under 
ground  Railroad — Pursuit  by  Cavalry  and  Bloodhounds — 
The  Arrest — Dan  Barnes,  the  Mail-robber — Perfidy — 
Heavily  ironed — Return  to  Tupelo 70 — 112 


CHAPTER    IV. 

LIFE    IN    A    DUNGEON. 

Parson  Aughey  as  Chaplain — Description  of  the  Prisoners — 
Colonel  Walter,  the  Judge  Advocate — Charges  and  Speci 
fications  against  Parson  Aughey,  a  Citizen  of  the  Con 
federate  States — Execution  of  two  Tennesseeans — En 
listment  of  Union  Prisoners — Colonel  Walter's  second 
visit — Day  of  Execution  specified — Farewell  Letter  to 
my  Wife — Parson  Aughey's  Obituary  penned  by  him 
self—Address  to  his  Soul — The  Soul's  Reply — Farewell 
Letter  to  his  Parents — The  Union  Prisoners'  Petition  to 
Hon.  W.  H.  Seward— The  two  Prisoners  and  the  Oath  of 
Allegiance — Irish  Stories 113 — 142 


CHAPTER    V. 

EXECUTION  OF  UNION  PRISONERS. 

Resolved  to  Escape — Mode  of  Executing  Prisoners — Re 
moval  of  Chain — Addition  to  our  Numbers — Two  Prison 
ers  become  Insane — Plan  of  Escape — Proves  a  Failure  — 
Fetters  Inspected — Additional  Fetters  —  Handcuffs  —  A 
Spy  in  the  Disguise  of  a  Prisoner — Special  Police  Guard 
on  Duty — A  Prisoner's  Discovery — Divine  Services — The 
General  Judgment — The  Judge — The  Laws — The  Wit 
nesses — The  Concourse — The  Sentence 143 — 1 07 


CONTENTS. 


CIIAPTBE    VI. 

SUCCESSFUL    ESCAPE. 

The  Second  Plan  of  Escape— Under  the  Jail— Egress— 
Among  the  Guards — In  the  Swamp— Travelling  on  the 
Underground  Railroad — The  Fare — Green  Corn  eaten 
Raw — Blackberries  and  Stagnant  Water — The  Blood 
hounds — Tantalizing  Dreams — The  Pickets — The  Cows • 

Become  Sick — Fons  Beatus — Find  Friends — Union  Friend 
No.  Two — The  night  in  the  Barn — Death  of  Newman  by 
Scalding — Union  Friend  No.  Three — Bound  for  the  Union 
Lines — Rebel  Soldiers  —  Black  Ox  —  Pied  Ox — Reach 
Headquarters  in  Safety — Emotions  on  again  beholding 
the  Old  Flag — Kindness  while  Sick — Meeting  with  his 
Family — Richard  Malone  again — The  Serenade — Leave 
Dixie — Northward  bound 168 — 211 


CHAPTER    VII. 

SOUTHERN  CLASSES— CRUELTY  TO  SLAVES. 

Sandhillers — Dirt-eating — Dipping — Their  Mode  of  Living — 
Patois — Rain-book — Wife-trade — Coming  in  to  see  the 
Cars-r-Superstition — Marriage  of  Kinsfolk  — Hardshell 
Sermon — Causes  which  lead  to  the  Degradation  of  this 
Class — Efforts  to  Reconcile  the  Poor  Whites  to  the  Pecu 
liar  'Institution — The  Slaveholding  Class — The  Middle 
Class — Northern  isms — Incident  at  a  Methodist  Minister's 
House — Question  asked  a  Candidate  for  Licensure — Rea 
son  of  Southern  Hatred  toward  the  North — Letter  to  Mr. 
Jackman — Barbarities  and  Cruelties  of  Slavery — Mulat- 
toes — Old  Cole — Child  Born  at  Whipping-post — Advertise 
ment  of  a  Keeper  of  Bloodhounds — Getting  Rid  of  Free 
Blacks  — The  Doom  of  Slavery  —  Methodist  Church 
South 212—248 


12  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

NOTORIOUS  REBELS.— UNION  OFFICERS. 

Colonel  Jefferson  Davis— His  Speech  at  Holly  Springs,  Mis 
sissippi — His  Opposition  to  Yankee  Teachers  and  Minis 
ters A  bid  for  the  Presidency — Hie  Ambition — Burr, 

Arnold,  Davis. — General  Beauregard — Headquarters  at 
Rienzi— Colonel  Elliott's  Raid— Beauregard's  Consterna 
tion — Personal  description — His  illness — Popularity  wan 
ing.— Rev.  Dr.  Palmer  of  New  Orleans— His  influence— 
The  Cincinnati  Letter — His  Personal  Appearance — His 
Denunciations  of  General  Butler— His  Radicalism.— Rev. 
Dr.  Waddell  of  La  Grange,  Tennessee — His  Prejudices 
against  the  North — President  of  Memphis  Synodical  Col 
lege—His  Talents  prostituted.— Union  Officers— General 
Nelson— General  Sherman 249—263 


CHAPTER     IX. 

CONDITION   OF   THE   SOUTH. 

Cause  of  the  Rebellion — Prevalence  of  Union  Sentiment  in 
the  South — Why  not  Developed — Stevenson's  Views — Why 
Incorrect — Cavalry  Raids  upon  Union  Citizens — How  the 
Rebels  employ  Slaves — Slaves  Whipped  and  sent  out  of 
the  Federal  Lines — Resisting  the  Conscript  Law — Kansas 
Jayhawkers — Guarding  Rebel  Property — Perfidy  of  Seces- 
sionists-^-Plea  for  Emancipation — The  South  Exhausted — 
Failure  of  Crops — Southern  Merchants  Ruined — Bragg 
Prohibits  the  Manufacture  and  Vending  of  Intoxicating 
Liquors— Its  Salutary  Effect 264—281 


CHAPTER    X. 

BATTLES  OF  LEESBURG,  BELMONT,  AND  SHILOH. 

Rebel  Cruelty  to  Prisoners — The  Fratricide — Grant  De 
feated — Saved  by  Gunboats — Buell's  Advance — Railroad 
Disaster — The  South  Despondent — General  Rosecrans — 
Secession  will  become  Odious  even  in  the  South — 
Poem ' 282—296 


THE    IRON    FUKNACE; 

OK 

SLAVERY   AND    SECESSION. 
CHAPTER    I. 

SECESSION. 

Speech  of  Colonel  Drane. — Submission  Denounced. — North 
ern  Aggression. — No  more  Slave  States. — Northern  isms. — 
Yankees'  Servants. — Yankee  inferiority. — Breckinridge, 
or  immediate,  complete,  and  eternal  Separation. — A  Day 
of  Rejoicing. — Abraham  Lincoln  President  elect. — A 
Union  Speech. — A  Southerner's  Reasons  for  opposing 
Secession. — Address  by  a  Radical  Secessionist. — Cursing 
and  Bitterness. — A  Prayer. — Sermon  against  Secession. — 
List  of  Grievances. — Causes  which  led  to  Secession. 

AT  the  breaking  out  of  the  present  rebellion,  I 
was  engaged  in  the  work  of  an  Evangelist  in 
the  counties  of  Choctaw  and  Attala  in  Central 
Mississippi.  My  congregations  were  large,  and 
my  duties  onerous.  Being  constantly  employed 
in  ministerial  labours,  I  had  no  time  to  inter 
meddle  with  politics,  leaving  all  such  questions 
2  [13] 


.14  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

to  statesmen,  giving  the  complex  issues  of  the 
day  only  sufficient  attention  to  enable  me  to 
vote  intelligently.  Thus  was  I  engaged  when 
the  great  political  campaign  of  1860  com 
menced — a  campaign  conducted  with  greater 
virulence  and  asperity  than  any  I  have  ever 
witnessed.  During  my  casual  detention  at  a 
store,  Colonel  Drane  arrived,  according  to 
appointment,  to  address  the  people  of  Choctaw. 
He  was  a  member  of  one  of  my  congregations, 
and  as  he  had  been  long  a  leading  statesman  in 
Mississippi,  having  for  many  years  presided 
over  the  State  Senate,  I  expected  to  hear  a 
speech  of  marked  ability,  unfolding  the  true 
issues  before  the  people,  with  all  the  dignity, 
suavity,  and  earnestness  of  a  gentleman  and 
patriot ;  but  I  found  his  whole  speech  to  be  a 
tirade  of  abuse  against  the  North,  commingled 
with  the  bold  avowal  of  treasonable  sentiments. 
The  Colonel  thus  addressed  the  people : 

MY  FELLOW-CiTiZENS-(-I  appear  before  you 
to  urge  anew  resistance  against  the  encroach 
ments  and  aggressions  of  the  Yankees.  If  the 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  15 

Black  Republicans  carry  their  ticket,  and  Old 
Abe  is  elected,  our  right  to  carry  our  slaves 
into  the  territories  will  be  denied  us;  and  who 
dare  say  that  he  would  be  a  base,  craven  submis- 
sionist,  when  our  God-gi.ven  and  constitutional 
right  to  carry  slavery  into  the  common  domain 
is  wickedly  taken  from  the  South.  -  The  Yan 
kees  cheated  us  out  of  Kansas  by  their  infernal  ^ 
Emigrant  Aid  Societies.  They  cheated  us  out 
of  California,  which  our  blood-treasure  pur 
chased,  for  the  South  sent  ten  men  to  one  that 
was  sent  by  the  North  to  the  Mexican  war,  and ' 
thus  we  have  no  foothold  on  the  Pacific  coast ; 
and  even  now  we  pay  five  dollars  for  the  sup 
port  of  the  general  Government  where  the 
North  pays  one.  We  help  to  pay  bounties  to 
the  Yankee  fishermen  in  New  England ;  indeed 
we  are  always  paying,  paying,  paying,  and  yet 
the  North  is  always  crying,  Give,  give,  give. 
The  South  has  made  the  North  rich,  and  what 
thanks  do  we  receive?  Our  rights  are  tram 
pled  on,  our  slaves  are  spirited  by  thousands 
over  their  underground  railroad  to  Canada,  our 
citizens  are  insulted  while  travelling  in  the 


16  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

North,  and  their  servants  are  tampered  with, 
and  by  false  representations,  and  often  by  mob 
violence,,  forced  from  them.  Douglas,  knowing 
the  power  of  the  Emigrant  Aid  Societies,  pro 
poses  squatter  sovereignty,  with  the  positive 
certainty  that  the  scum  of  Europe  and  the 
mudsills  of  Yankeedom  can  be  shipped  in  in 
numbers  sufficient  to  control  the  destiny  of  the 
embryo  State.  Since  the  admission  of  Texas 
in  1845,  there  has  not  been  a  single  foot  of 
slave  territory  secured  to  the  South,  while  the 
North  has  added  to  their  list  the  extensive 
States  of  California,  Minnesota,  and  Oregon, 
and  Kansas  is  as  good  as  theirs ;  while,  if  Lin 
coln  is  elected,  the  Wilmot  proviso  will  be 
extended  over  all  the  common  territories, 
debarring  the  South  for  ever  from  her  right  to 
share  the  public  domain. 

The  hypocrites  of  the  North  tell  us  that 
slaveholding  is  sinful.  Well,  suppose  it  is. 
Upon  us  and  our  children  let  the  guilt  of  this 
sin  rest;  we  are  willing  to  bear  it,  and  it  is 
none  of  their  business.  We  are  a  more  moral 
people  than  they  are.  (  Who  originated  Mor- 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  17 

monism,  Millerism,  Spirit-rappings,  Abolition 
ism,  Free-loveism,  and  all  the  other  abominable 
isms  which  curse  the  world  ?  The  reply  is,  the 
North.  Their  puritanical  fanaticism  and  hypo 
crisy  is  patent  to  all.  \Talk  to  us  of  the  sin  of 
slavery,  when  the  only  difference  between  us  is 
that  our  slaves  are  black  and  theirs  white. 
They  treat  their  white  slaves,  the  Irish  and 
Dutch,  in  a  cruel  manner,  giving  them  during 
health  just  enough  to  purchase  coarse  clothing, 
and  when  they  become  sick,  they  are  turned 
off  to  starve,  as  they  do  by  hundreds  every 
year.  \  A  female  servant  in  the  North  must 
have  a  testimonial  of  good  character  before 
she  will  be  employed;  those  with  whom  she 
is  labouring  will  not  give  her  this  so  long 
as  they  desire  her  services ;  she  therefore  can 
not  leave  them,  whatever  may  be  her  treat 
ment,  so  that  she  is  as  much  compelled  to 
remain  with  her  employer  as  the  slave  with 
his  master. 

Their  servants  hate  them ;  our's  love  us.  My 
niggers  would  fight  for  me  and  my  family. 
They  have  been  treated  well,  and  they  know  it. 


18  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

And  T  don't  treat  my  slaves  any  better  than  my 
neighbours.  If  ever  there  comes  a  war  between 
the  North  and  the  South,  let  us  do  as  Abraham 
did — arm  our  trained  servants,  and  go  forth 
with  them  to  the  battle.  They  hate  the  Yan 
kees  as  intensely  as  we  do,  and  nothing  could 
please  our  slaves  better  than  to  fight  them. 
Ah,  the  perfidious  Yankees!  I  cordially  hate 
a  Yankee.  We  have  all  suffered  much  at  their 
hands ;  they  will  not  keep  faith  with  us.  Have 
they  complied  with  the  provisions  of  the  Fugi 
tive  Slave  Law?  The  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  slaves  aided  in  their  escape  to 
Canada,  is  a  sufficient  answer.  We  have  lost 
millions,  and  are  losing  millions  every  year,  by 
the  operations  of  the  underground  railroad. 
IIow  deep  the  perfidy  of  a  people,  thus  to  vio 
late  every  article  of  compromise  we  have  made 
with  them !  The  Yankees  are  an  inferior  race, 
descended  from  the  old  Puritan  stock,  who 
enacted  the  Blue  Laws.  They  are  desirous  of 
compelling  us  to  submit  to  laws  more  iniqui 
tous  than  ever  were  the  Blue  Laws.  I  have 
travelled  in  the  North,  and  have  seen  the  depth 


SLAVEKY  AND   SECESSION.  19 

of  their  depravity.  \  Now,  my  fellow-citizens, 
what  sliall  we  do  to  resist  Northern  aggression  ? 
Why  simply  this:  if  Lincoln  or  Douglas  are 
elected,  (as  to  the  Bell-Everett  ticket,  it  stands 
no  sort  of  chance,)  let  us  secede.  This  remedy 
will  be  effectual.  I  am  in  favour  of  no  more 
compromises.  Let  us  have  Breckinridge,  ^or 
immediate,  complete,  and  eternal  separation. 

The  speaker  then  retired  amid  the  cheers  of 
his  audience. 

Soon  after  this  there  came  a  -day  of  rejoic 
ing  to  many  in  Mississippi.  The  booming  of 
cannon,  the  joyous  greeting,  the  soul-stirring 
music,  indicated  that  no  ordinary  intelligence 
had  been  received.  The  lightnings  had  brought 
the  tidings  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  Presi 
dent  elect  of  the  United  States,  and  the  South 
was  wild  with  excitement.  Those  who  had 
been  long  desirous  of  a  pretext  for  secession, 
now  boldly  advocated  their  sentiments,  and 
joyfully  hailed  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as 
affording  that  pretext.  The  conservative  men 
were  filled  with  gloom.  They  regarded  the 


20  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 


election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  by  the  majority  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  in  a  constitutional 
way,  as  affording  no  cause  for  secession. 
Secession  they  regarded  as  fraught  with  all  the 
evils  of  Pandora's  box,  and  that  war,  famine, 
pestilence,  and  moral  and  physical  desolation 
would  follow  in  its  train.  A  call  was  made  by 
Governor  Pettus  for  a  convention  to  assemble 
early  in  January,  at  Jackson,  to  determine  what 
course  Mississippi  should  pursue,  whether  her 
policy  should  be  submission  or  secession. 

Candidates,  Union  and  Secession,  were  nomi 
nated  for  the  convention  in  every  county.  The 
speeches  of  two,  whom  I  heard,  will  serve  as  a 
specimen  of  the  arguments  used  pro  and  con. 
Captain  Love,  of  Choctaw,  thus  addressed  the 
people. 

MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS— I  appear  before  you 
to  advocate  the  Union— the  Union  of  the  States 
under  whose  favoring  auspices  we  have  long 
prospered.  No  nation  so  great,  so  prosperous, 
so  happy,  or  so  much  respected  by  earth's 
thousand  kingdoms,  as  the  Great  Republic,  by 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION".  21 

which  name  the  United  States  is  known  from 
the  rivers  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Our  flag, 
the  star-spangled  banner,  is  respected  on  every 
sea,  and  affords  protection  to  the  citizens  of 
every  State,  whether  amid  the  pyramids  of 
Egypt,  the  jungles  of  Asia,  or  the  mighty 
cities  of  Europe.  Our  Republican  Constitution, 
framed  by  the  wisdom  of  our  Revolutionary 
fathers,  is  as  free  from  imperfection  as  any 
document  drawn  up  by  uninspired  men.  God 
presided  over  the  councils  of  that  convention 
which  framed  our  glorious  Constitution.  They 
asked  wisdom  from  on  high,  and  their  prayers 
were  answered.  Free  speech,  a  free  press,  and 
freedom  to  worship  God  as  our  conscience  dic 
tates,  under  our  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  none 
daring  to  molest  or  make  us  afraid,  are 
some  of  the  blessings  which  our  Constitution 
guarantees;  and  these  prerogatives,  which  we 
enjoy,  are  features  which  bless  and  distin 
guish  us  from  the  other  nations  of  the  earth. 
Freedom  of  speech  is  unknown  amongst  them ; 
among  them  a  censorship  of  the  press  and  a 
national  church  are  established. 


22  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OK 

Our  country,  by  it§  physical  features,  seems 
fitted  for  but  one  nation.  What  ceaseless  trou 
ble  would  be  caused  by  having  the  source  of 
our  rivers  in  one  country  and  the  mouth  in 
another.  There  are  no  natural  boundaries  to 
divide  us  into  separate  nations.  We  are  all 
descended  from  the  same  common  parentage, 
we  all  speak  the  same  language,  and  we  have 
really  no  conflicting  interests,  the  statements  of 
our  opponents  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
Our  opponents  advocate  separate  State  seces 
sion.  Would  not  Mississippi  cut  a  sorry  figure 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth?  With  no 
harbour,  she  would  be  dependent  on  a  foreign 
nation  for  an  outlet.  Custom-house  duties 
would  be  ruinous,  and  the  republic  of  Missis 
sippi  would  find  herself  compelled  to  return  to 
the  Union.  Mississippi,  you  remember,  repu 
diated  a  large  foreign  debt  some  years  ago ;  if 
she  became  an  independent  nation,  her  credi 
tors  would  influence  their  government  to 
demand  payment,  which  could  not  be  refused 
by  the  weak,  defenceless,  navyless,  armyless, 
moneyless,  repudiating  republic  of  Mississippi. 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  23 

To  pay  this  debt,  with  the  accumulated  inter- 
est,  would  ruin  the  new  republic,  and  bank 
ruptcy  would  stare  us  in  the  face. 

It  is  true,  Abraham  Lincoln  is  elected, 
President  of  the  United  States.  My  plan  is  to 
wait  till  Mr.  Lincoln  does  something  unconsti 
tutional.  Then  let  the  South  unanimously  seek 
redress  in  a  constitutional  manner.  The  con 
servatives  of  the  North  will  join  us.  If  no 
redress  is  made,  let  us  present  our  ultimatum. 
If  this,  too,  is  rejected,  I  for  one  will  not  advo 
cate  submission;  and  by  the  cooperation  of  all 
the  slave  States,  we  will,  in  the  event  of  the 
perpetration  of  wrong,  and  a  refusal  to  redress 
our  grievances,  be  much  abler  to  secure  our 
rights,  or  to  defend  them  at  the  cannon's 
mouth  and  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  The 
Supreme  Court  favours  the  South.  In  the 
Dred  Scott  case,  the  Supreme  Court  decided 
that  the  negro  was  not  a  citizen,  and  that  the 
slave  was  a  chattel,  as  we  regard  him.  The 
majority  of  Congress  on  joint  ballot  is  still  with 
the  South.  Although  we  have  something  to 


2-4  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

fear  from  the  views  of  the  President  elect  and 
the  Chicago  platform,  let  urf  wait  till  some 
overt  act,  trespassing  upon  our  rights,  is  com 
mitted,  and  all  redress  denied;  then,  and  not 
till  then,  will  I  advocate  extreme  measures. 

Let  our  opponents  remember  that  secession 
and  civil  war  are  synonymous.  Who  ever  heard 
of  a  government  breaking  to  pieces  without  an 
arduous  struggle  for  its  preservation?  I  admit 
the  right  of  revolution,  when  a  people's  rights 
cannot  otherwise  be  maintained,  but  deny  the 
right  of  secession.  We  are  told  that  it  is  a 
reserved  right.  The  constitution  declares  that 
all  rights  not  specified  in  it  are  reserved  to  the 
people  of  the  respective  States;  but  who  ever 
heard  of  the  right  of  total  destruction  of  the 
government  being  a  reserved  right  in  any  con 
stitution?  The  fallacy  is  evident  at  a  glance. 
Nine  millions  of  people  can  afford  to  wait  for 
some  overt  act.  Let  us  not  follow  the  precipi 
tate  course  which  the  ultra  politicians  indicate. 
Let  W.  L.  Yancey  urge  his  treasonable  policy 
of  firing  the  Southern  heart  and  precipitating  a 


SLAVEKY  AND   SECESSION.  25 

revolution ;  but  let  us  follow  no  such  wicked 
advice.  Let  us  follow  the  things  which  make 
for  peace. 

We  are  often  told  that  the  North  will 
not  return  fugitive  slaves.  "Will  secession 
remedy  this  grievance?  Will  secession  give 
us  any  more  slave  territory?  No  free  govern 
ment  ever  makes  a  treaty  for  the  rendition  of 
fugitive  slaves— thus  recognising  the  rights  of 
the  citizens  of  a  foreign  nation  to  a  species  of 
property  which  it  denies  to  its  own  citizens. 
Even  little  Mexico  will  not  do  it.  Mexico  and 
Canada  return  no  fugitives.  In  the  event  of 
secession,  the  United  States  would  return  no 
fugitives,  and  our  peculiar  institution  would, 
along  our  vast  border,  become  very  insecure; 
we  would  hold  our  slaves  by  a  very  slight 
tenure.  Instead  of  extending  the  great  South 
ern  institution,  it  would  be  contracting  daily. 
Our  slaves  would  be  held  to  service  at  their 
own  option,  throughout  the  whole  border,  and 
our  gulf  States  would  soon  become  border 
States;  and  the  great  insecurity  of  this  species 
of  property  would  work,  before  twenty  years, 
3 


26  THE  IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

tlie  ^extinction  of  slavery,  and,  in  consequence, 
the  ruin  of  the  South.  Are  we  prepared  for 
such  a  result  ?  Are  we  prepared  for  civil  war  ? 
Are  we  prepared  for  all  the  evils  attendant 
upon  a  fratricidal  contest  —  for  bloodshed, 
famine,  and  political  and  moral  desolation? 
I  reply,  we  are  not;  therefore  let  us  look 
before  we  leap,  and  avoiding  the  heresy  of 
secession — 

"  Rather  bear  the  ills  we  have, 
Than  fly  to  others  that  we  know  not  of." 

A   secession   speaker   was   introduced,    and 
thus  addressed  the  people : 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN — FELLOW-CITIZENS 
—I  am  a  secessionist  out  and  out;  voted  for 
Jeff'  Davis  for  Governor  in  1850,  when  the 
same  issue  was  before  the  people ;  and  I  have 
always  felt  a  grudge  against  the  free  state  of 
Tishomingo  for  giving  H.  S.  Foote,  the  Union 
candidate,  a  majority  so  great  as  to  elect  him, 
and  thus  retain  the  State  in  this  accursed 
Union  ten  years  longer.  Who  would  be  a 
craven-hearted,  cowardly,  villanous  submis- 


SLAVEKY  AND  SECESSION.  27 

sionist  ?  Lincoln, .  the  abominable,  white-liv 
ered  abolitionist,  is  President  elect  of  the 
United  States;  shall  he  be  permitted  to  take 
his  seat  on  Southern  soil  ?  No,  never !  I  will 
volunteer  as  one  of  thirty  thousand,  to  butcher 
the  villain  if  ever  he  sets  foot  on  slave  terri 
tory.  Secession  or  submission !  What  patriot 
would  hesitate  for  a  moment  which  to  choose? 
ISTo  true  son  of  Mississippi  would  brook  the 
idea  of  submission  to  the  rule  of  the  baboon 
Abe  Lincoln — a  fifth-rate  lawyer,  a  broken- 
down  hack  of  a  politician,  a  fanatic,  an  aboli- 
litionist.  I,  for  one,  would  prefer  an  hour  of 
virtuous  liberty  to  a  whole  eternity  of  bondage 
under  northern,  Yankee,  wooden-nutmeg  rule. 
The  halter  is  the  only  argument  that  should  be 
used  against  the  submissionists,  and  I  predict 
that  it  will  soon,  very  soon,  be  in  force. 

"We  have  glorious  news  from  Tallahatchie. 
Seven  tory-submissionists  were  hanged  there  in 
one  day,  and  the  so-called  Union  candidates, 
having  the  wholesome  dread  of  hemp  -before 
their  eyes,  are  not  canvassing  the  county; 
therefore  the  heretical  'dogma  of  submission, 


28  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

under  any  circumstances,  disgraces  not  their 
county.  Compromise!  let  us  have  no  such 
word  in  our  vocabulary.  Compromise  with 
the  Yankees,  after  the  election  of  Lincoln,  is 
treason  against  the  South;  and  still  its  syren 
voice  is  listened  to  by  the  demagogue  submis- 
sionists.  "We  should  never  have  made  any 
compromise,  for  in  every  case  we  surrendered 
rights  for  the  sake  of  peace.  No  concession  of 
the  scared  Yankees  will  now  prevent  secession. 
They  now  understand  that  the  South  is  in  ear 
nest,  and  in  their  alarm  they  are  proposing  to 
yield  us  much ;  but  the  die  is  cast,  the  Eubicon 
is  crossed,  and  our  determination  shall  ever  be, 
No  union  with  the  flat-headed,  nigger-stealing, 
fanatical  Yankees. 

We  are  now  threatened  with  internecine 
war.  The  Yankees  are  an  inferior  race;  they 
are  cowardly  in  the  extreme.  They  are  de 
scended  from  the  Puritan  stock,  who  never 
bore  rule  in  any  nation.  We,  the  descendants 
of  the  Cavaliers,  are  the  Patricians,  they  the 
Plebeians.  The  Cavaliers  have  always  been  the 
rulers,  the  Puritans  ttie  ruled.  The  dastardly 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  29 

Yankees,  will  never  fight  us;  but  if  they,  in 
their  presumption  and  audacity,  venture  to 
attack  us,  let  the  war  come — I  repeat  it — let  it 
come!  The  conflagration  of  their  burning 
cities,  the  desolation  of  their  country,  and  the 
slaughter  of  their  inhabitants,  will  strike  the 
nations  of  the  earth  dumb  with  astonishment, 
and  serve  as  a  warning  to  future  ages,  that  the 
slaveholding  Cavaliers  of  the  sunny  South  are 
terrible  in  their  vengeance.  I  am  in  favour  of 
immediate,  independent,  and  eternal  separation 
from  the  vile  Union  which  has  so  long 
oppressed  us.  After  separation,  I  am  in  favour 
of  non-intercourse  with  the  United  States  so 
long  as  time  endures.  We  will  raise  the  tariff; 
to  the  point  of  prohibition,  on  all  Yankee  man 
ufactures,  including  wooden-nutmegs,  wooden 
clocks,  quack  nostrums,  &c.  We  will  drive 
back  to  their  own  inhospitable  clime  every 
Yankee  who  dares  to  pollute  our  shores  with 
his  cloven  feet.  Go  he  must,  and  if  necessary, 
with  the  bloodhounds  on  his  track.  The  scum 
of  Europe  and  the  mudsills  of  Yankeedom 
shall  never  be  permitted  to  advance  a  step 


30  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OB 

south  of  36°  30'.  South  of  that  latitude  is 
ours — westward  to  the  Pacific.  With  my  heart 
of  hearts  I  hate  a  Yankee,  and  I  will  make  my 
children  swear  eternal  hatred  to  the  whole 
Yankee  race.  A  mongrel  breed — Irish,  Dutch, 
Puritans,  Jews,  free  niggers,  &c. — they  scarce 
deserve  the  notice  of  the  descendants  of  the 
Huguenots,  the  old  Castilians,  and  the  Cava 
liers.  Cursed  be  the  day  when  the  South  con 
sented  to  this  iniquitous  league — the  Federal 
Union — which  has  long  dimmed  her  nascent 
glory. 

In  batfle,  one  southron  is  equivalent  to  ten 
northern  hirelings;  but  I  regard  it  a  waste  of 
time  to  speak  of  Yankees — they  deserve  not 
our  attention.  It  matters  not  to  us  what  they 
think  of  secession,  and  we  would  not  trespass 
upon  your  time  and  patience,  were  it  not  for 
the  tame,  tory  submissionists  with  which  our 
country  is  cursed.  A  fearful  retribution  is 
in  waiting  for  the  whole  crew,  if  the  war 
which  they  predict,  should  come.  Were  they 
then  to  advocate  the  same  views,  I  would  not 
give  a  fourpence  for  their  lives.  We  would 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  31 

hang  them  quicker  than  old  Heath  would  hang 
a  tory.  Our  Revolutionary  fathers  set  us  a 
good  example  in  their  dealings  with  the  tories. 
They  sent  them  to  the  shades  infernal  from  the 
branches  of  the  nearest  tree.  The  North  has 
sent  teachers  and  preachers  amongst  us,  who 
have  insidiously  infused  the  leaven  of  Abo 
litionism  into  the  minds  of  their  students  and 
parishioners ;  and  this  submissionist  policy  is  a 
lower  development  of  the  doctrine  of  Wendell 
Philips,  Gerritt  Smith,  Horace  Greely,  and 
others  of  that  ilk.  We  have  a  genial  clime,  a 
soil  of  uncommon  fertility.  We  have  free 
institutions,  freedom  for  the  white  man,  bond 
age  for  the  black  man,  as  nature  and  nature's 
God  designed.  We  have  fair  women  and  brave 
men.  The  lines  have  truly  fallen  to  us  in 
pleasant  places.  We  have  indeed  a  goodly 
heritage.  The  only  evil  we  can  complain  of  is 
our  bondage  to  the  Yankees  through  the  Fede 
ral  Union.  Let  us  burst  these  shackles  from 
our  limbs,  and  we  will  be  free  indeed. 

Let    all   who  desire    complete    and    eternal 
emancipation  from  Yankee  thraldom,  come  to 


32  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

the  polls  on  the.—  -  day  of  December,  pre 
pared  not  to  vote  the  cowardly  submissionist 
ticket,  but  to  vote  the  secession  ticket;  and 
their  children,  and  their  children's  children, 
will  owe  them  a  debt  of  gratitude  which  they 
can  never  repay.  The  day  of  our  separation 
and  vindication  of  States'  rights,  will  be  the 
happiest  day  of  our  lives.  Yankee  domination 
will  have  ceased  for  ever,  and  the  haughty 
southron  will  spurn  them  from  all  association, 
both  governmental  and  social.  So  mote  it  be ! 

This  address  was  received  with  great  eclat. 

On  the  next  Sabbath  after  this  meeting,  I 
preached  in  the  Poplar  Creek  Presbyterian 
church,  in  Choctaw  county,  from  Komans 
xiii.  1:  "Let  every  soul  be  subject  unto  the 
higher  powers.  For  there  is  no  power  but  of 
God :  the  powers  that  be,  are  ordained  of  God." 

Previous  to  the  sermon  a  prayer  was  offered, 
of  which  the  following  is  the  conclusion : 

ALMIGHTY  GOD — We  would  present  our 
country,  the  United  States  of  America,  before 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  33 

thee.  When  our  political  horizon  is  overcast 
with  clouds  and  darkness,  when  the  strong- 
hearted  are  becoming  fearful  for  the  perma 
nence  of  our  free  institutions,  and  the  pros 
perity,  yea,  the  very  existence  of  our  great 
Eepublic,  we  pray  thee,  0  God,  when  flesh  and 
heart  fail,  when  no  human  arm  is  able  to  save 
us  from  the  fearful  vortex  of  disunion  and 
revolution,  that  thou  wouldst  interpose  and 
save  us.  We  confess  our  national  sins,  for  we 
have,  as  a  nation,  sinned  grievously.  We  have 
been  highly  favoured,  we  have  been  greatly 
prospered,  and  have  taken  our  place  amongst 
the  leading  powers  of  the  earth.  A  gospel- 
enlightened  nation,  our  sins  are  therefore  more 
heinous  in  thy  sight.  They  are  sins  of  deep 
ingratitude  and  presumption.  We  confess  that 
drunkenness  has  abounded  amongst  all  classes 
of  our  citizens.  Eulers  and  ruled  have  been 
alike  guilty ;  and  because  of  its  wide-spreading 
prevalence,  and  because  our  legislators  have 
enacted  no  sufficient  laws  for  its  suppression,  it 
is  a  national  sin.  Profanity  abounds  amongst 
us ;  Sabbath-breaking  is  rife ;  and  we  have  ele- 


3-i  THE  IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

vated  unworthy  men  to  high  positions  of  hon 
our  and  trust.  We  are  not,  as  a  people,  free 
from  the  crime  of  tyranny  and  oppression.  For 
these  great  and  aggravated  offences,  we  pray 
thee  to  give  us  repentance  and  godly  sorrow, 
and  then,  O  God,  avert  the  threatened  arid 
imminent  judgments  which  impend  over  our 
beloved  country.  Teach  our  Senators  wisdom. 
Grant  them  that  wisdom  which  is  able  to  make 
them  wise  unto  salvation ;  and  grant  also  that 
wisdom  which  is  profitable  to  direct,  so  that 
they  may  steer  the  ship  of  State  safely  through 
the  troubled  waters  which  seem  ready  to  engulf 
it  on  every  side.  Lord,  hear  us,  and  answer  in 
mercy,  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen  and  Amen! 

The  following  is  a  synopsis  of  my  sermon : 

Israel  had  been  greatly  favoured  as  a  nation. 
No  weapon  formed  against  them  prospered,  so 
long  as  they  loved  and  served  the  Lord  their 
God.  They  were  blessed  in  their  basket  and 
their  store.  They  were  set  on  high  above  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  *  *  *  * 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  35 

"When  all  Israel  assembled,  ostensibly  to  make 
Kehoboam  king,  they  were  ripe  for  rebellion. 
Jeroboam  and  other  wicked  men  had  fomented 
and  cherished  the  sparks  of  treason,  till,  on  this 
occasion,  it  broke  out  into  the  flame  of  open 
rebellion.  The  severity  of  Solomon's  rule  was 
the  pretext,  but  it  was  only  a  pretext,  for  dur 
ing  his  reign  the  nation  prospered,  grew  rich 
and  powerful.  Jeroboam  wished  a  disruption 
of  the  kingdom,  that  he  might  bear  rule;  and 
although  God  permitted  it  as  a  punishment  for 
Israel's  idolatry,  yet  he  frowned  upon  the 
wicked  men  who  were  instrumental  in  bringing 
this  great  evil  upon  his  chosen  people. 

The  loyal  division  took  the  name  of  Judah, 
though  "composed  of  the  two  tribes,  Judah  and 
Benjamin.  The  revolted  ten  tribes  took  the 
name  of  their  leading  tribe,  Ephraim.  Eph- 
raim  continued  to  wax  weaker  and  weaker. 
Filled  "with  envy  against  Judah,  they  often 
warred  against  that  loyal  kingdom,  until  they 
themselves  were  greatly  reduced.  At  last,  after 
various  vicissitudes,  the  ten  tribes  were  carried 
away,  and  scattered  and  lost.  We  often  heai' 


36  THE   IRON   FURXACE;   OR 

of  the  lost  ten  tribes.  "What  became  of  them 
is  a  mystery.  Their  secession  ended  in  their 
being  blotted  out  of  existence,  or  lost  amidst 
the  heathen.  God  alone  knows  what  did 
become  of  them.  They  resisted  the  powers 
that  be — the  ordinance  of  God — and  received 
to  themselves  damnation  and  annihilation. 

As  God  dealt  with  Israel,  so  will  he  deal 
with  us.  If  we  are  exalted  by  righteousness, 
we  will  prosper ;  if  we,  as  the  ten  tribes,  resist 
the  ordinance  of  God,  we  will  perish.  At 
this  time,  many  are  advocating  the  course  of 
the  ten  tribes.  Secession  is  a  word  of  frequent 
occurrence.  It  is  openly  advocated  by  many. 
Nullification  and  rebellion,  secession  and  trea 
son,  are  convertible  terms,  and  no  good  citizen 
will  mention  them  with  approval.  Secession 
is  resisting  the  powers  that  be,  and  therefore  it 
is  a  violation  of  God's  command.  Where  do 
we  obtain  the  right  of  secession  ?  Clearly  not 
from  the  word  of  God,  which  enjoins  obedience 
to  all  that  are  in  authority,  to  whom  we  must 
be  subject,  not  only  for  wrath,  but  also  for 
conscience'  sake.  The  following  scriptural 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  37 

argument  for  secession  is  often  used,  1  Tim.  vi. 
1 — 5.  In  these  verses  Paul  was  addressing 
believing  servants,  and  commanding  them  to 
absent  themselves  from  the  teaching  of  those 
who  taught  not  the  doctrine  which  is  according 
to  godliness.  In  a  former  epistle  he  had 
commanded  Christians  not  to  keep  company 
with  the  incestuous  person  who  had  his  father's 
wife.  He  directed  that  they  should  not  keep 
company  with  any  man  who  was  called  a 
brother,  if  he  were  a  fornicator,  or  covetous,  or 
an  idolater,  or  a  railer,  or  a  drunkard,  or  an 
extortioner;  with  such  a  one  no  not  to  eat; 
but  he  expressly  declares  that  he  does  not 
allude  to  those  who  belong  to  the  above  classes 
that  have  made  no  profession  of  religion.  lie 
does  not  judge  them  that  are  without,  for  them 
that  are  without,  God  judgeth.  He  afterwards 
exhorts  that  the  church  confirm  their  love 
toward  the  incestuous  person  as  he  had  repent 
ed  of  his  wickedness.  This  direction  of  the 
Apostle  to  believers  to  withdraw  from  a 
brother  who  walked  disorderly,  till  he  had 
manifested  proper  repentance;  and  his  exhorta- 
4 


38  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

tion  to  believing  servants  to  absent  themselves 
from  the  teachings  of  errorists,  cannot  logically 
be  construed  as  a  scriptural  argument  in  favour 
of  secession.  Were  the  President  of  the  United 
States  an  unbeliever,  a  profane  swearer,  a  Sab 
bath-breaker,  or  a  drunkard,  this  fact  would 
not,  per  se,  give  us  the  right  to  secede  or  rebel 
against  the  government. 

There  is  no  provision  made  in  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  for  secession.  The 
wisest  statesmen,  who  made  politics  their  study, 
regarded  secession  as  a  political  heresy,  dan 
gerous  in  its  tendencies,  and  destructive  of  all 
government  in  its  practical  application.  Mis 
sissippi,  purchased  from  France  with  United 
States  gold,  fostered  by  the  nurturing  care,  and 
made  ^prosperous  by  the  wise  administration  of 
the  general  government,  proposes  to  secede. 
Her  political  status  would  then  be  anomalous. 
Would  her  territory  revert  to  France?  Does 
she  propose  to  refund  the  purchase-money? 
Would  she  become  a  territory  under  the  juris 
diction  of  the  United  States  Congress? 

Henry  Clay,  the  great  statesman,  Daniel  Web- 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  39 

ster,  the  expounder  of  the  Constitution,  Gene 
ral  Jackson,  George  Washington,  and  a  mighty 
host,  whose  names  would  fill  a  volume,  regarded 
secession    as   treason.      One    of    our   smallest 
States,  which  swarmed  with  tories  in  the  Kevo- 
lution,   whose   descendants  still  live,   invented 
the  doctrine  of  nullification,  the  first  treason 
able  step,  which  soon  culminated  in  the  advo 
cacy  of  secession.    Why  should  we  secede,  and 
thus  destroy  the  best,  the  freest,  and  most  pros 
perous  government  on  the  face  of  the  earth? 
the    government    which    our    patriot    fathers 
fought  and  bled  to  secure.     What  has  Missis 
sippi  lost  by  the  Union  ?     I  have  resided  seven 
years  in  this  State,  and  have  an  extensive  per 
sonal  acquaintance,  and  yet  I  know  not  a  single 
individual  who  has  lost  a  slave  through  north 
ern  influence.     I  have,  it  is  true,  known  of 
some  ten  slaves  who  have  run  away,  and  have 
not  been  found.      They  may  have  been  aided 
in  their   escape  .to   Canada  by  northern   and 
southern   citizens,  for  there  are  many  in  the 
South  who  have  given  aid  and  comfort  to  the 
fugitive;    but    the    probability    is    that    they 


4"  THE  IRON   FURXACE;   OR 

perished  in  the  swamps,  or  were  destroyed  by 
the  bloodhounds. 

The  complaint  is  made  that  the  North 
resrards  slavery  as  a  moral,  social,  and  political 
evil,  and  that  many  of  them  denounce,  in  no 
measured  terms,  both  slavery  and  slaveholdera. 
To  be  thus  denounced  is  regarded  as  a  great 
grievance.  Secession  would  not  remedy  this 
evil  In  order  to  cure  it  effectually,  we  must 
seize  and  gag  all  who  thus  denounce  our  pecu 
liar  institution.  We  must  also  muzzle  their 
press.  As  this  is  impracticable,  it  would  be 
well  to  come  to  this  conclusion: — If  we  are 
verily  guilty  of  the  evils  charged  upon  us,  let 
us  set  about  rectifying  those  evils;  if  not,  the 
denunciations  of  slanderers  should  not  affect  us 
so  deeply.  If  our  northern  brethren  are  honest 
in  their  convictions  of  the  sin  of  slavery,  as  no 
doubt  many  of  them  are,  let  us  listen  to  their 
arguments  without  the  dire  hostility  so  fre 
quently  manifested.  They  take  the  position 
that  slavery  is  opposed  to  the  inalienable  rights 
of  the  human  race ;  that  it  originated  in  piracy 
and  robbery;  that  manifold  cruelties  and  bar- 


SLAVERY  AXD  SECESSION.  41 

barities  are  inflicted  upon  the  defenceless 
slaves;  that  they  are  debarred  from  intellec 
tual  culture  by  State  laws,  which  send  to 
the  penitentiary  those  who  are  guilty  of  in 
structing  them;  that  they  are  put  upon  the 
block  and  sold;  parent  and  child,  husband 
and  wife  being  separated,  so  that  they  never 
again  see  each  other's  face  in  the  flesh;  that 
the  law  of  chastity  cannot  be  observed,  as 
there  are  no  laws  punishing  rape  on  the 
person  of  a  female  slave;  that  when  they 
escape  from  the  threatened  cat-o'-nine-tails, 
or  overseer's  whip,  they  are  hunted  down  by 
bloodhounds,  and  bloodier  men;  that  often 
they  are  half-starved  and  half-clad,  and  are 
furnished  with  mere  hovels  to  live  in;  that 
they  are  often  murdered  by  cruel  overseers, 
who  whip  them  to  death,  or  overtask  them, 
until  disease  is  induced,  which  results  in  death ; 
that  masters  practically  ignore  the  marriage 
relation  among  slaves,  inasmuch  as  they  fre 
quently  separate  husband  and  wife,  by  sale  or 
removal;  that  they  discourage  the  formation 
of  that  relation,  preferring  that  the  offspring  of 
4* 


42  THE   IKON   FURNACE;    OR 

their  female  slaves  should  be  illegitimate,  from 
the  mistaken  notion  that  it  would  be  more 
numerous.  They  charge,  also,  that  slavery 
induces  in  the  masters,  pride,  arrogance, 
tyranny,  laziness,  profligacy,  and  every  form 
of  vice. 

The  South  takes  the  position,  that  if  slavery 
is  sinful,  the  North  is  not  responsible  for  that 
sin;  that  it  is  a  State  institution,  and  that  to 
interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States  in  any 
way,  even  by  censure,  is  a  violation  of  the 
rights  of  the  States.  The  language  of  our 
politicians  is,  Upon  us  and  our  children  rest 
the  evil !  We  are  willing  to  take  the  respon 
sibility,  and  to  risk  the  penalty!  You  will 
find  evil  and  misery  enough  in  the  North 
to  excite  your  philanthropy,  and  employ 
your  beneficence.  You  have  purchased  our 
cotton;  you  have  used  our  sugar;  you  have 
eaten  our  rice;  you  have  smoked  and  chewed 
our  tobacco — all  of  which  are  the  products  of 
slave-labour.  You  have  grown  rich  by  traffic 
in  these  articles;  you  have  monopolized  the 
carrying  trade,  and  borne  our  slave-produced 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  43 

products  to  your  shores.  Your  northern  ships, 
manned  by  northern  men,  brought  from  Africa 
the  greater  part  of  the  slaves  which  came  to 
our  continent,  and  they  are  still  smuggling 
them  in.  When,  finding  slavery  unprofitable, 
the  northern  States  passed  laws  for  gradual 
emancipation,  but  few  obtained  their  freedom, 
the  majority  of  them  being  shipped  South  and 
sold,  so  that  but  few,  comparatively,  were 
manumitted.  If  the  slave  trade  and  slavery 
are  great  sins,  the  North  is  particeps  criminis, 
and  has  been  from  the  beginning. 

These  bitter  accusations  are  hurled  back  and 
forth  through  the  newspapers ;  and  in  Congress, 
crimination  and  recrimination  occur  every  day 
of  the  session.  Instead  of  endeavouring  to 
calm  the  troubled  waters,  politicians  are  striv 
ing  to  render  them  turbid  and  boisterous.  Sec 
tional  bitterness  and  animosity  prevail  to  a 
fearful  extent ;  but  secession  is  not  the  proper 
remedy.  To  cure  one  evil  by  perpetrating  a 
greater,  renders  a  double  cure  necessary.  In 
order  to  cure  a  disease,  the  cause  should  be 
known,  that  we  may  treat  it  intelligently,  and 


4A  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

apply  a  proper  remedy.  Having  observed, 
during  the  last  eleven  years,  that  sectional 
strife  and  bitterness  were  increasing  with  fear 
ful  rapidity,  I  have  endeavoured  to  stem  the 
torrent,  so  far  as  it  was  possible  for  individual 
effort  to  do  so.  I  deem  it  the  imperative  duty 
of  all  patriots,  of  all  Christians,  to  throw  oil 
upon  the  troubled  waters,  and  thus  save  the 
ship  of  State  from  wreck  among  the  vertiginous 
billows. 

Most  of  our  politicians  are  demagogues. 
They  care  not  for  the  people,  so  that  they 
accomplish  their  own  selfish  and  ambitious 
schemes.  Give  them  power,  give  them  money, 
and  they  are  satisfied.  Deprive  them  of  these, 
and  they  are  ready  to  sacrifice  the  best  interests 
of  the  nation  to  secure  them.  They  excite 
sectional  animosity  and  party  strife,  and  are 
willing  to  kindle  the  flames  of  civil  war  to 
accomplish  their  unhallowed  purposes.  They 
tell  us  that  there  is  a  conflict  of  interest 
between  the  free  and  slave  States,  and  endea 
vour  to  precipitate  a  revolution,  that  they  may 
be  leaders,  and  obtain  positions  of  trust  and 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  45 

profit  in  the  new  government  which  they  hope 
to  establish.  The  people  would  be  dupes 
indeed  to  abet  these  wicked  demagogues  in 
their  nefarious  designs.  Let  us  not  break 
God's  command,  by  resisting  the  ordinance  of 
God — the  powers  that  be.  I  am  not  discussing 
the  right  of  revolution,  which  I  deem  a  sacred 
right.  When  human  rights  are  invaded,  when 
life  is  endangered,  when  liberty  is  taken  away, 
when  we  are  not  left  free  to  pursue  our  own 
happiness  in  our  own  chosen  way — ^so  far  as 
we  do  not  trespass  upon  the  rights  of  others — 
we  have  a  right,  and  it  becomes  our  imperative 
duty  to  resist  to  the  bitter  end,  the  tyranny 
which  would  deprive  us  and  our  children  of 
our  inalienable  rights.  Our  lives  are  secure; 
we  have  freedom  to  worship  GocL  Our  liberty 
is  sacred;  we  may  pursue  happiness  to  our 
hearts'  content.  "We  do  not  even  charge  upon 
the  general  Government  that  it  has  infringed 
these  rights.  Whose  life  has  been  endangered, 
or  who  has  lost  his  liberty  by  the  action  of  the 
Government  ?  If  that  man  lives,  in  all  this  fair 
domain  of  ours,  he  has  the  right  to  complain. 


46  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

But  neither  you  nor  I  have  ever  heard  of  or 
seen  the  individual  who  has  thus  suffered.  We 
have  therefore  clearly  no  right  of  revolution. 

Treason  is  no  light  offence.  God,  who  rules 
the  nations,  and  who  has  established  govern 
ments,  will  punish  severely  those  who  attempt 
to  overthrow  them.  Damnation  is  stated  to  be 
the  punishment  which  those  who  resist  the 
powers  that  be,  will  suffer.  Who  wishes  to 
endure  it?  I  hope  none  of  my  charge  will 
incur  this  penalty  by  the  perpetration  of  trea 
son.  You  yourselves  can  bear  me  witness  that 
I  have  not  heretofore  introduced  political  issues 
into  the  pulpit,  but  at  this  time  I  could  not 
acquit  my  conscience  were  I  not  to  warn  you 
against  the  great  sin  some  of  you,  I  fear,  are 
ready  to  commit. 

Were  I  to  discuss  the  policy  of  a  high  or 
low  tariff,  or  descant  upon  the  various  merits 
attached  to  one  or  another  form  of  banking, 
I  should  be  justly  obnoxious  to  censure.  Poli 
tics  and  religion,  however,  are  not  always 
separate.  When  the  political  issue  is  made, 
shall  we,  or  shall  we  not,  grant  license  to  sell 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  47 

intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage?  the  min 
ister's  duty  is  plain;  he  must  urge  his  people 
to  use  their  influence  against  granting  any 
such  license.  The  minister  must  enforce  every 
moral  and  religious  obligation,  and  point  out  the 
path  of  truth  and  duty,  even  though  the  princi 
ples  he  advocates  are  by  statesmen  introduced 
into  the  arena  of  political  strife,  and  made  issues 
by  the  great  parties  of  the  day.  I  see  the 
sword  coming,  and  would  be  derelict  in  duty 
not  to  give  you  faithful  warning.  I  must 
reveal  the  whole  counsel  of  God.  I  have  a 
message  from  God  unto  you,  which  I  must 
deliver,  whether  you  will  hear,  or  whether  you 
will  forbear.  If  the  sword  come,  and  you 
perish,  I  shall  then  be  guiltless  of  your  blood. 
As  to  the  great  question  at  issue,  my  honest 
conviction  is  (and  I  think  I  have  the  Spirit  of 
God,)  that  you  should  with  your  whole  heart, 
and  soul,  and  mind,  and  strength,  oppose 
secession.  You  should  talk  against  it,  you 
should  write  against  it,  you  should  vote  against 
it,  and,  if  need  be,  you  should  fight  against  it. 
I  have  now  declared  what  I  believe  to  be  your 


•13 


high  duty  in  this  emergency.  Do  not  destroy 
the  government  which  has  so  long  protected 
you,  and  which  has  never  in  a  single  instance 
oppressed  you.  Pull  not  down  the  fair  fabric 
which  our  patriot  fathers  reared  at  vast  ex 
pense  of  blood  and  treasure.  Do  not,  like  the 
blind  Samson,  pull  down  the  pillars  of  our 
glorious  edifice,  and  cause  death,  desolation, 
and  ruin.  Perish  the  hand  that  would  thus 
destroy  the  source  of  all  our  political  pros 
perity  and  happiness.  Let  the  parricide  who 
attempts  it  receive  the  just  retribution  which  a 
loyal  people  demand,  even  his  execution  on  a 
gallows  high  as  Hainan's.  Let  us  also  set 
about  rectifying  the  causes  which  threaten  the 
overthrow  of  our  government.  As  we  are 
proud,  let  us  pray  for  the  grace  of  humility. 
As  a  State,  and  as  individuals,  we  too  lightly 
regard  its  most  solemn  obligations;  let  us, 
therefore,  pray  for  the  grace  of  repentance  and 
godly  sorrow,  and  hereafter  in  this  respect  sin 
no  more.  As  many  transgressions  have  been 
committed  by  us,  let  the  time  past  of  our  lives 
suffice  us  to  have  wrought  the  will  of  the  flesh, 


SLAVERY   AXD   SECESSION.  49 

and  now  let  us  break  off  our  sins  by  righteous 
ness,  and  oar  transgressions  by  turning  unto 
the  Lord,  and  he  will  avert  his  threatened 
judgments,  and  save  us  from  dissolution,  an 
archy,  and  desolation. 

If  our  souls  are  filled  with  hatred  against 
the  people  of  any  section  of  our  common  coun 
try,  let  us  ask  from  the  Great  Giver  the  grace 
of  charity,  which  suffereth  long  and  is  kind, 
which  envieth  not,  which  vaunteth  not  itself, 
is  not  puffed  up,  does  not  behave  itself 
unseemly,  seeketh  not  her  own,  is  not  easily 
provoked,  thinketh  no  evil;  rejoiceth  not  in 
iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth ;  beareth  all 
things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things, 
endureth  all  things,  and  which  never  faileth; 
then  shall  we  be  in  a  suitable  frame  for  an  ami 
cable  adjustment  of  every  difficulty;  oil  will 
soon  be  thrown  upon  the  troubled  waters,  and 
peace,  harmony,  and  prosperity  would  ever 
attend  us;  and  our  children,  and  our  children's 
children  will  rejoice  in  the  possession  of  a  bene 
ficent  and  stable  government,  securing  to  them 
all  the  natural  and  inalienable  rights  of  man. 
5 


50 


CHAPTER    II. 

VIGILANCE  COMMITTEE   AND  COURT-MARTIAL. 

The  election  of  Delegates  to  determine  the  status  of  Missis 
sippi — The  Vigilance  Committee — Description  of  its  mem 
bers — Charges — Phonography — No  formal  verdict — Dan 
ger  of  Assassination — Passports — Escape  to  Rienzi — 
Union  sentiment — The  Conscript  Law — Summons  to  at 
tend  Court-Martial — Evacuation  of  Corinth — Destruction 
of  Cotton — Suffering  poor — Relieved  by  General  Halleck. 

SOON  after  this  sermon  was  preached,  the 
election  was  held.  Approaching  the  polls,  I 
asked  for  a  Union  ticket,  and  was  informed  that 
none  had  been  printed,  and  that  it  would  be 
advisable  to  vote  the  secession  ticket.  I  thought 
otherwise,  and  going  to  a  desk,  wrote  out  a 
Union  ticket,  and  voted  it  amidst  the  frowns 
and  suppressed  murmurs  of  the  judges  and  by 
standers,  and,  as  the  result  proved,  I  had  the 
honour  of  depositing  the  only  vote  in  favour 
of  the  Union  which  was  polled  in  that  precinct. 
I  knew  of  many  who  were  in  favour  of  the 
Union,  who  were  intimidated  by  threats,  and 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  51 

by  the  odium  attending  it  from  voting  at  all. 
A  majority  of  secession  candidates  were  elected. 
The  convention  assembled,  and  on  the  9th  of 
January,  1861,  Mississippi  had  the  unenviable 
reputation  of  being  the  first  to  follow  her  twin 
sister,  South  Carolina,  into  the  maelstrom  of 
secession  and  treason.  Being  the  only  States 
in  which  the  slaves  were  more  numerous  than 
the  whites,  it  became  them  to  lead  the  van  in 
the  slave-holders'  rebellion.  Before  the  4th  of 
March,  Florida,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Louisiana 
and  Texas  had  followed  in  the  wake,  and  were 
engulfed  in  the  whirlpool  of  secession. 

It  was  now  dangerous  to  utter  a  word  in 
favour  of  the  Union.  Many  suspected  of  Union 
sentiments  were  lynched.  An  old  gentleman 
in  "Winston  county  was  arrested  for  an  act 
committed  twenty  years  before,  which  was 
construed  as  a  proof  of  his  abolition  proclivi 
ties.  The  old  gentleman  had  several  daughters, 
and  his  mother-in-law  had  given  him  a  negro 
girl.  Observing  that  his  daughters  were  be 
coming  lazy,  and  were  imposing  all  the  labour 
upon  the  slave,  he  sent  her  back  to  the  donor, 


52  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

with  a  statement  of  the  cause  for  returning 
her.  This  was  now  the  ground  of  his  arrest, 
but  escaping  from  their  clutches,  a  precipitate 
flight  alone  saved  his  life. 

Self-constituted  vigilance  committees  sprang 
up  all  over  the  country,  and  a  reign  of  terror 
began;  all  who  had  been  Union  men,  and  who 
had  not  given  in  their  adhesion  to  the  new 
order  of  things  by  some  public  proclamation, 
were  supposed  to  be  disaffected.  The  so-called 
Confederate  States,  the  new  power,  organized 
for  the  avowed  purpose  of  extending  and  per 
petuating  African  slavery,  was  now  in  full 
blast.  These  soi-disant  vigilance  committees 
professed  to  carry  out  the  will  of  Jeff.  Davis. 
All  who  were  considered  disaffected  were  re 
garded  as  being  tinctured  with  abolitionism. 
My  opposition  to  the  disruption  of  the  Union 
being  notorious,  I  was  summoned  to  appear 
before  one  of  these  august  tribunals  to  answer 
the  charge  of  being  an  abolitionist.  My  wife  was 
very  much  alarmed,  knowing  that  were  I  found 
guilty  of  the  charge,  there  was  no  hope  for 
mercy.  Flight  was  impossible,  and  I  deemed 


SLAVERY   AND   SECESSION".  53 

it  the  safest  plan  to  appear  before  the  commit 
tee.  I  found  it  to  consist  of  twelve  persons, 
five  of  whom  I  knew,  viz.,  Parson  Locke, 
Armstrong,  Cartledge,  Simpson,  and  Wilbanks. 
Parson  Locke,  the  chief  speaker,  or  rather  the 
inquisitor-general,  was  a  Methodist  minister, 
though  he  had  fallen  into  disrepute  among 
his  brethren,  and  was  engaged  in  a  tedious 
strife  with  the  church  which  he  left  in  Holmes 
county.  The  parson  was  a  real  Nimrod.  He 
boasted  that  in  five  months  he  had  killed  forty- 
eight  raccoons,  two  hundred  squirrels,  and  ten 
deer ;  he  had  followed  the  bloodhounds,  and 
assisted  in  the  capture  of  twelve  runaway 
negroes.  W.  H.  Simpson  was  a  ruling  elder 
in  my  church.  Wilbanks  was  a  clever  sort 
of  old  gentleman,  who  had  little  to  say  in  the 
matter.  Armstrong  was  a  monocular  Hard 
shell-Baptist.  Cartledge  was  an  illiterate,  con 
ceited  individual.  The  rest  were  a  motley  crew, 
not  one  of  whom,  I  feel  confident,  knew  a  letter 
in  the  alphabet.  The  committee  assembled  in 
an  old  carriage-shop.  Parson  Locke  acted  as 
chairman,  and  conducted  the  trial,  as  follows.  , 


54 

"Parson  Aughey,  you  have  been  reported  to 
us  as  holding  abolition  sentiments,  and  as  being 
disloyal  to  the  Confederate  States." 

"Who  reported  me,  and  where  are  your 
witnesses?" 

"Any  one  has  a  right  to  report,  and  it  is 
optional  whether  he  confronts  the  accused  or 
not.  The  proceedings  of  vigilance  committees 
are  somewhat  informal." 

"Proceed,  then,  with  the  trial,  in  your  own 
way." 

"We  propose  to  ask  you  a  few  questions, 
and  in  your  answers  you  may  defend  yourself, 
or  admit  your  guilt.  In  the  first  place,  did  you 
ever  say  that  you  did  not  believe  that  God 
ordained  the  institution  of  slavery?" 

"  I  believe  that  God  did  not  ordain  the  insti 
tution  of  slavery." 

"Did  not  God  command  the  Israelites  to  buy 
slaves  from  the  Canaanitish  nations,  and  to 
hold  them  as  their  property  for  ever?" 

"The  Canaanites  had  filled  their  cup  of 
iniquity  to  overflowing,  and  God  commanded 
^he  Israelites  to  exterminate  them;  this,  in 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  55 

violation  of  God's  command,  they  failed  to  do. 
God  afterwards  permitted  the  Hebrews  to 
reduce  them  to  a  state  of  servitude;  but  the 
punishment  visited  upon  those  seven  wicked 
nations  by  the  command  of  God,  does  not 
justify  war  or  the  slave-trade." 

"Did  you  say  that  you  were  opposed  to  the 
slavery  which  existed  in  the  time  of  Christ?" 

"I  did,  because  the  system  of  slavery  pre 
vailing  in  Christ's  day  was  cruel  in  the 
extreme;  it  conferred  the  power  of  life  and 
death  upon  the  master,  and  was  attended  with 
innumerable  evils.  The  slave  had  the  same 
complexion  as  his  master ;  and  by  changing  his 
servile  garb  for  the  citizen  dress,  he  could  not 
be  recognised  as  a  slave.  You  yourself  pro 
fess  to  be  opposed  to  white  slavery." 

"  Did  you  state  that  you  believed  Paul,  when 
he  sent  Onesimus  back  to  Philemon,  had  no 
idea  that  he  would  be  regarded  as  a  slave,  and 
treated  as  such  after  his  return?" 

"I  did.  My  proof  is  in  Philemon,  verses  15 
and  16,  where  the  apostle  asks  that  Onesimus 


56  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

be  received,  not  as  a  servant,  but  as  a  brother 
beloved  ?" 

"Did  you  tell  Mr.  Creath  that  you  knew 
some  negroes  who  were  better,  in  every  respect, 
than  some  white  men?" 

"I  said  that  I  knew  some  negroes  who  were 
better  classical  scholars  than  any  white  men  I 
had  as  yet  met  with  in  Choctaw  county,  and 
that  I  had  known  some  who  were  pre-eminent 
for  virtue  and  holiness.  As  to  natural  rights, 
I  made  no  comparison ;  nor  did  I  say  anything 
about  superiority  or  inferiority  of  race.  I  also 
stated  my  belief  in  the  unity  of  the  races." 

"Have  you  any  abolition  works  in  your 
library,  and  a  poem  in  your  scrap-book,  en 
titled  'The  Fugitive  Slave,'  with  this  couplet  as 
a  refrain, 

'The  hounds  are  baying  on  my  track; 
Christian,  will  you  send  me  back?'  " 

"I  have  not  Mrs.  Stowe's  nor  Helper's  work; 
they  are  contraband  in  this  region,  and  I  could 
not  get  them  if  I  wished.  I  have  many  works 
in  my  library  containing  sentiments  adverse  to 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  57 

the  institution  of  slavery.  All  the  works  in 
common  use  amongst  us,  on  law,  physic,  and 
divinity,  all  the  text-books  in  our  schools — in 
a  word,  all  the  works  on  every  subject  read 
and  studied  by  us,  were,  almost  without  excep 
tion,  written  by  men  opposed  to  the  peculiar 
institution.  I  am  not  alone  in  this  matter." 

"Parson,  I  saw  Cowper's  works  in  your 
library,  and  Cowper  says : 

'  I  would  not  have  a  slave  to  fan  me  when  I  sleep, 
And  tremble  when  I  wake,  for  all  the  wealth 
That  sinews  bought  and  sold  have  ever  earned.' " 

"You  have  Wesley's  writings,  and  "Wesley 
says  that  'Human  slavery  is  the  sum  of  all 
villany.'  You  have  a  work  which  has  this 
couplet : 

*  Two  deep,  dark  stains,  mar  all  our  country's  bliss : 
Foul  slavery  one,  and  one,  loathed  drunkenness.' 

You  have  the  work  of  an  English  writer  of 
high  repute,  who  says,  'Forty  years  ago,  some 
in  England  doubted  whether  slavery  were  a 
sin,  and  regarded  adultery  as  a  venial  offence; 
but  behold  the  progress  of  truth!  Who  now 


58 


THE  IRON  FURNACE;   OR 


doubts  that  lie  who -enslaves  his  fellow-man  is 
guilty  of  a  fearful  crime,  and  that  he  who 
violates  the  seventh  commandment  is  a  great 
sinner  in  the  sight  of  God?'" 

"You  are  known  to  be  an  adept  in  Phono 
graphy,  and  you  are  reported  to  be  a  corres 
pondent  of  an  abolition  Phonographic  journal." 

"  I  understand  the  science  of  Phonography, 
and  I  am  a  correspondent  of  a  Phonographic 
journal,  but  the  journal  eschews  politics." 

Another  member  of  the  committee  then  in- 
terrogated  me. 

* 

"Parson  Aughey,  what  is  Funnyography ? 

"Phonography,  sir,  is  a  system  of  writing  by 
means  of  a  philosophic  alphabet,  composed  of 
the  simplest  geometrical  signs,  in  which  one 
mark  is  used  to  represent  one  and  invariably 
the  same  sound." 

"Kin  you  talk  Funnyography?  and  where 
does  them  folks  live  what  talks  it?" 

"Yes,  sir,  I  converse  fluently  in  Phono 
graphy,  and  those  who  speak  the  language  live 
in  Columbia." 

"In  theDestrict?" 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  59 

"  No,  sir,  in  the  poetical  -Columbia." 

I  was  next  interrogated  by  another  member 
of  the  committee. 

"Parson  Aughey,  is  Phonography  a  Aboli 
tion  fixin?" 

"  No,  sir ;  Phonography,  abstractly  considered, 
has  no  political  complexion ;  it  may  be  used  to 
promote  either  side  of  any  question,  sacred  or 
profane,  mental,  moral,  physical,  or  political." 

"Well,  you  ought  to  write  and  talk  plain 
English,  what  common  folks  can  understand, 
or  we'll  have  to  say  of  you,  what  Agrippa 
said  of  Paul,  'Much  learning  hath  made  thee 
mad.'  Suppose  you  was  to  preach  in  Phono 
graphy,  who'd  understand  it? — who'd  know 
what  was  piped  or  harped?  I'll  bet  high 
some  Yankee  invented  it  to  spread  his  abolition 
notions  underhandedly.  I,  for  one,  would  be 
in  favour  of  makin'  the  parson  promise  to  write 
and  talk  no  more  in  Phonography.  I'll  bet 
Phonography  is  agin  slavery,  tho'  I  never 
hearn  tell  of  it  before.  I'm  agin  all  secret 
societies.  I'm  agin  the  Odd-fellers,  Free-ma- 


60  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

sons,  Sons  of  Temperance,  Good  Templars  and 
Phonography.  I  want  to  know  what's  writ 
and  what's  talked.  You  can't  throw  dust  in 
my  eyes.  Phonography,  from  what  I've  found 
out  about  it  to-day,  is  agin  the  Confederate 
States,  and  we  ought  to  be  agin  it." 
Parson  Locke  then  resumed : 

"I    must     stop     this    digression.       Parson 
Aughey,  are  you  in  favour  of  the  South?" 

"I  am  in  favour  of  the  South,  and  have 
always  endeavoured  to  promote  the  best  inter 
ests  of  the  South.  However,  I  never  deemed  it 
for  the  best  interests  of  the  South  to  secede.  I 
talked  against  secession,  and  voted  against 
secession,  because  I  thought  that  the  best  inter 
ests  of  the  South  wo  aid  be  put  in  jeopardy  by 
the  secession  of  the  Southern  States.  I  was 
honest  in  my  convictions,  and  acted  according 
ly.  Could  the  sacrifice  of  my  life  have  stayed 
the  swelling  tide  of  secession,  it  would  gladly 
have  been  made." 

"It  is  said  that  you  have  never  prayed  for 
the  Southern  Confederacy." 


SLAVEKY   AND  SECESSION.  61 

"I  have  prayed  for  the  whole  world,  though 
it  is  true  that  I  have  never  named  the  Confede 
rate  States  in  prayer." 

"  You  may  retire." 

After  I  had  retired,  the  committee  held  a 
long  consultation.  My  answers  were  not  satis 
factory.  I  never  learned  all  that  transpired. 
They  brought  in  no  formal  verdict.  The 
majority  considered  me  a  dangerous  man,  but 
feared  to  take  my  life,  as  they  were,  with  one 
exception,  adherents  of  other  denominations, 
and  they  knew  that  my  people  were  devotedly 
attached  to  me  before  the  secession  movement. 
Some  of  the  secessionists  swore  that  they  would 
go  to  my  house  and  murder  me,  when  they 
^learned  that  the  committee  had  not  hanged  me. 
My  friends  provided  me  secretly  with  arms, 
and  I  determined  to  defend  myself  to  the  last. 
I  slept  with  a  double-barrelled  shot-gun  at  my 
head,  and  was  prepared  to  defend  myself 
against  a  dozen  at  least. 

Learning  that  I  was  not  acceptable  to  many 
of  the  members  of  my  church,  whilst  my  life 
6 


THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 


was  in  continual  jeopardy,  and  my  family  in  a 
state  of  constant  alarm,  I  abandoned  my  field  of 
labour,  and  sought  for  safety  in  a  more  con 
genial  clime.  I  intended  to  go  North.  Jeff. 
Davis  and  his  Congress  had  granted  permission 
to  all  who  so  desired,  to  leave  the  South.  Several 
Union  men  of  my  acquaintance  applied  for  pass 
ports,  but  were  refused.  The  proclamation  to 
grant  permits  was  an  act  of  perfidy ;  all  those, 
so  far  as  I  am  informed,  who  made  application 
for  them,  were  refused.  The  design  in  thus  act 
ing  was  to  get  Union  men  to  declare  themselves 
as  such,  and  afterwards  to  punish  them  for  their 
sentiments  by  forcing  them  into  the  army,  con 
fining  them  in  prison,  shooting  them,  or  lynch 
ing  them  by  mob  violence.  Finding  that  were 
I  to  demand  a  passport  to  go  north,  I  would 
be  placed  on  the  proscribed  list,  and  my  life 
endangered  still  more,  I  declared  my  intention 
of  going  back  to  Tishomingo  county,  in  which 
I  owned  property,  and  which  was  the  home  of 
many  of  my  relatives.  I  knew  that  I  would 
be  safer  there,  for  this  county  had  elected 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  63 

Union  delegates  by  a  majority  of  over  fourteen 
hundred,  and  a  strong  Union  sentiment  had 
always  prevailed. 

On  my  arrival  in  Tishomingo,  I  found  that 
the  great  heart  of  the  county  still  beat  true  to 
the  music  of  the  Union.  Being  thrown  out  of 
employment  I  deemed  it  my  duty,  in  every  pos 
sible  way,  to  sustain  the  Union  cause  and  the 
enforcement  of  the  laws.  It  was  impossible  to 
go  north.  Union  sentiments  could  be  expressed 
with  safety  in  many  localities.  Corinth,  luka, 
and  Rienzi  had,  from  the  commencement  of  the 
war,  been  camps  of  instruction  for  the  training 
of  Confederate  soldiers.  These  three  towns  in 
the  county  being  thus  occupied,  Union  men 
found  it  necessary  to  be  more  cautious,  as  the 
cavalry  frequently  made  raids  through  the  coun 
ty,  arresting  and  maltreating  those  suspected  of 
disaffection.  After  the  reduction  of  Forts 
Henry  and  Donelson,  aud  the  surrender  of 
Nashville,  the  Confederates  made  the  Memphis 
and  Charleston  railroad  the  base  of  their  opera 
tions,  their  armies  extending  from  Memphis  to 
Chattanooga.  Soon,  however,  they  were  all 


64  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

concentrated  at  Corinth,  a  town  in  Tishomingo 
county,  at  the  junction  of  the  Memphis  and 
Charleston  railroad  with  the  Mobile  and  Ohio. 
After  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  which  was  fought 
on  the  6th  and  7th  of  April,  the  Federal  troops 
held  their  advance  at  Farmington,  four  miles 
from  Corinth,  while  the  Confederates  occupied 
Corinth,  their  rear  guard  holding  Rienzi,  twelve 
miles  south,  on  the  Mobile  and  Ohio  railroad. 
Thus  there  were  two  vast  armies  encamped 
in  Tishomingo  county.  Being  within  the  Con 
federate  lines,  I,  in  common  with  many  others, 
found  it  difficult  to  evade  the  conscript  law. 
Knowing  that  in  a  multitude  of  counsellors 
there  is  wisdom,  we  held  secret  meetings,  in 
order  to  devise  the  best  method  of  resisting  the 
law.  We  met  at  night,  and  had  our  counter 
signs  to  prevent  detection.  Often  our  wives, 
sisters,  and  daughters  met  with  us.  Our  meet 
ing-place  was  some  ravine,  or  secluded  glen,  as 
far  as  possible  from  the  haunts  of  the  secession 
ists;  all  were  armed;  even  the  ladies  had  re 
volvers,  and  could  use  them  too.  The  crime  of 
treason  we  were  resolved  not  to  commit.  Our 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  65 

counsels  were  somewhat  divided,  some  advo 
cating,  as  a  matter  of  policy,  the  propriety  of 
attending  the  militia  musters,  others  opposing 
it  for  conscience'  sake,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
avoiding  every  appearance  of  evil.  Many  who 
would  not  muster  as  conscripts,  resolved  to 
escape  to  the  Federal  lines;  and  making  the 
attempt  two  or  three  at  a  time,  succeeded  in 
crossing  the  Tennessee  river,  and  reaching  the 
Union1  army,  enlisted  under  the  old  flag,  and 
have  since  done  good  service  as  patriot  war 
riors.  Some  who  were  willing  to  muster  as 
conscripts,  were  impressed  into  the  Confederate 
service,  and  I  know  not  whether  they  ever 
found  an  opportunity  to  desert.  Others,  my 
self  among  the  number,  were  saved  by  the 
timely  arrival  of  the  Federal  troops,  and  the 
occupation  of  the  county  by  them,  after  Beau- 
regard's  evacuation  of  Corinth.  I  had  received 
three  citations  to  attend  muster,  but  disregard 
ing  them,  I  was  summoned  to  attend  a  court- 
martial  on  the  first  day  of  June,  at  the  house  of 
Mr.  Jim  Mock.  The  following  is  a  copy  of  the 
citation. 
6* 


66  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

Ma  the  22d.  1862 

Parson  Awhay,  You  havent  tended  nun  of 
our  mustters  as  a  konskrip.  Now  you  is  her 
bi  sumenzd  to  attend  a  kort  marshal  on  Jim 
the  fust  at  Jim  Mock. 

When  I  received  the  summons,  I  resolved  to 
attempt  reaching  the  Union  lines  at  Farming- 
ton.  Two  of  my  friends,  who  had  received  a 
similar  summons,  expected  to  accompany  me. 
On  the  29th  of  May,  I  left  for  Bienzi,  where 
my  two  friends  were  to  meet  me.  I  had  not 
been  many  hours  in  Kienzi  when  it  became 
evident  that  the  Confederates  were  evacuating 
Corinth.  On  the  1st  of  June,  (the  day  the 
court-martial  was  to  convene,)  I  had  the  plea 
sure  of  once  more  beholding  the  star-spangled 
banner  as  it  was  borne  in  front  of  General 
Granger's  command,  which  led  the  van  of  the 
pursuing  army.  Had  I  remained  and  attended 
the  court-martial,  I  would  have  been  forced 
into  the  army.  Were  I  then  to  declare  that  I 
would  not  take  up  arms  against  the  United 
States,  I  would  have  been  shot,  as  many 


SLAVERY   AND   SECESSION.  67 

have  been,  for  their  refusal  thus  to  act. 
General  Rosecrans,  on  his  arrival,  made  his 
head-quarters  at  my  brother's  house,  where  I 
had  the  pleasure  of  forming  his  acquaintance, 
together  with  that  of  Generals  Smith,  Granger, 
and  Pope.  As  this  county  was  now  occupied 
by  the  Federal  army,  I  returned  to  my  father- 
in-law's,  within  five  miles  of  which  place  the 
court  martial  had  been  ordered  to  convene, 
considering  myself  comparatively  safe.  I 
learned  that  the  court-martial  never  met, 
as  Colonel  Elliott,  in  his  successful  raid  upon 
Boonville,  had  passed  Jim  Mock's,  scaring  him 
to  such  a  degree,  that  he  did  not  venture  to 
sleep  in  his  house  for  two  weeks.  The  Union 
cavalry  scoured  the  country  in  all  directions, 
daily,  and  we  were  rejoicing  at  the  prospect 
of  continuous  safety,  and  freedom  from  out 
rage. 

The  Rebels,  during  their  retreat,  had  burned 
all  the  cotton  which  was  accessible  to  their 
cavalry,  on  their  route.  At  night,  the  flames 
of  the  burning  cotton  lighted  up  the  horizon 
for  miles  around.  These  baleful  pyres,  with 


68  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

their  lurid  glare,  bore  sad  testimony  to  the 
horrors  of  war.  In  this  wanton  destruction  of 
the  great  southern  staple,  many  poor  families 
lost  their  whole  staff  of  bread,  and  starvation 
stared  them  in  the  face.  Many  would  have 
perished,  had  it  not  been  for  the  liberal  contri 
butions  of  the  North;  for,  learning  the  suffer 
ings  of  the  poor  of  the  South,  whose  whole 
labour  had  been  destroyed  by  pretended  friends, 
they  sent  provisions  and  money,  and  thus 
many  who  were  left  in  utter  destitution,  were 
saved  by  this  timely  succor.  I  have  heard 
the  rejoicings  of  the  poor,  who,  abandoned  by 
their  supposed  friends,  were  saved,  with  their 
children,  from  death,  by  the  beneficence  of 
those  whom  they  had  been  taught  to  regard  as 
enemies  the  most  bitter,  implacable,  unmerciful, 
and  persistent.  Their  prayer  may  well  be, 
Save  us  from  our  friends,  whose  tender  mercies 
are  cruel!  I  have  never  known  a  man  to  burn 
his  own  cotton,  but  I  have  heard  their  bitter 
anathemas  hurled  against  those  who  thus 
robbed  them,  and  their  denunciations  were 
loud  and  deep  against  the  government  which 


SLAVERY   AND   SECESSION.  69 

authorized  such  cruelty.  It  is  true  that  those 
.who  thus  lose  their  cotton,  if  secessionists, 
receive  a  "promise  to  pay/'  which  all  regard 
as  not  worth  the  paper  on  which  it  is  written. 
Ere  pay-day,  those  who  are  dependent  on  their 
cotton  for  the  necessaries  of  life,  would  have 
passed  the  bourne  whence  no  traveller  returns. 
"Pis  like  the  Confederate  bonds — at  first  they 
were  made  payable  two  years  after  date,  and 
printed  upon  paper  which  would  be  worn  out 
entirely  in  six  months,  and  would  have  become 
illegible  in  half  that  time.  The  succeeding 
issues  were  made  payable  six  months  after  the 
ratification  of  a  treaty  of  peace  between  the 
United  States  and  the  Confederate  States. 
Though  not  a  prophet,  nor  a  prophet's  son,  I 
venture  the  prediction  that  those  bonds  will 
never  be  due.  The  war  of  elements,  the  wreck 
of  matter,  and  the  crush  of  worlds,  announcing 
the  end  of  all  things,  will  be  heard  sooner. 


70  THE  IKON  FUKXACE;   OB 


CHAPTER    III. 

ARREST,  ESCAPE,  AND  RECAPTURE. 

High  price  of  Provisions — Holland  Lindsay's  Family — The 
arrest — Captain  Hill — Appearance  before  Colonel  Brad- 
fute  at  Fulton — Arrest  of  Benjamin  Clarke — Bradfute's 
Insolence — General  Chalmers — The  clerical  Spy — Gene 
ral  Pfeifer — Under  guard — Priceville — General  Gordon — 
Bound  for  Tupelo — The  Prisoners  entering  the  Dungeon — 
Captain  Bruce — Lieutenant  Richard  Malone — Prison  Fare 
and  Treatment — Menial  Service — Resolve  to  escape — 
Plan  of  escape — Federal  Prisoners — Co-operation  of  the 
Prisoners — Declaration  of  Independence — The  Escape — 
The  Separation — Concealment — Travel  on  the  Under 
ground  Railroad — Pursuit  by  Cavalry  and  Bloodhounds — 
The  Arrest — Dan  Barnes,  the  Mail-robber — Perfidy — 
Heavily  ironed — Return  to  Tupelo. 

AT  this  time — May  and  June,  1862 — all  mar 
ketable  commodities  were  commanding  fabu 
lous  prices ;  as  a  lady  declared,  it  would  soon 
be  necessary,  on  going  to  a  store,  to  carry  two 
baskets,  one  to  hold  the  money,  and  the  other 
the  goods  purchased.  Flour  was  thirty  dollars 
per  barrel,  bacon  forty  cents  per  pound,  and 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION".  il 

coffee  one  dollar  per  pound.  Salt  was  nomi 
nally  one  hundred  dollars  per  sack  of  one  hun 
dred  pounds,  or  one  dollar  per  pound,  but  there 
was  none  to  be  obtained  even  at  that  price. 
Ladies  were  compelled  to  dispense  with  salt  in 
their  culinary  operations;  even  the  butter  was 
unsalted.  Cotton-cards,  an  article  used  in  every 
house  at  the  South,  the  ordinary  price  of  which 
is  fifty  cents  per  pair,  were  selling  at  twenty- 
five  dollars  per  pair,  and  wool-cards  at  fifteen 
dollars  per  pair,  the  usual  price  being  thirty- 
eight  cents.  All  the  cotton  used  in  the  manu 
facture  of  home-made  cloth,  is  carded  into  rolls 
upon  these  cotton-cards,  which  are  brought 
from  the  North,  there  being  not  a  single  manu 
factory  of  them  in  the  South.  When  the  sup 
ply  on  hand  becomes  exhausted,  the  southern 
home  manufacture  of  cloth  must  cease,  no  one 
as  yet  having  been  able  to  suggest  a  substitute 
for  the  cotton-card.  There  are  only  three  facto 
ries  in  Mississippi,  which  must  cease  running  as 
soon  as  their  machinery  wears  out,  as  the  most 
important  parts  of  the  machinery  in  those  fac 
tories  are  supplied  from  the  North.  The  people 


72  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

are  fully  aware  of  these  difficulties,  but  they 
can  devise  no  remedy,  hence  the  high  price  of 
all  articles  used  in  the  manufacture  of  all  kinds 
of  cloths.  All  manufactured  goods  were  com 
manding  fabulous  prices.  On  the  occupation 
of  the  county  by  Federal  troops,  goods  could 
be  obtained  at  reasonable  prices,  but  our  money 
was  all  gone,  except  Confederate  bonds,  which 
were  worthless.  Planters  who  were  beyond  the 
lines  of  the  retreating  army  had  cotton,  but 
many  of  them  feared  to  sell  it,  as  the  Kebels 
professed  to  regard  it  treason  to  trade  with  the 
invaders,  and  threatened  to  execute  the  penalty 
in  every  case.  As  there  was  no  penalty 
attached  to  the  selling  of  cotton  by  one  citizen 
of  Mississippi  to  another,  some  of  my  friends 
offered  to  sell  me  their  cotton  for  a  reasonable 
price. 

I  was  solicited  also  to  act  as  their  agent  in 
the  purchase  of  commodities.  I  agreed  to  this 
risk,  because  of  the  urgent  need  of  my  friends, 
many  of  whom  were  suffering  greatly  for  the 
indispensable  necessaries  of  life.  I  thought  it 
was  better  that  one  should  suffer,  than  that  the 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  73 

whole  people  should  perish.  By  this  arrange 
ment  my  Union  friends  would  escape  the  punish 
ment  meted  out  to  those  who  were  found  guilty 
of  trading  with  the  Yankees;  if  discovered,  I 
alone  would  be  amenable  to  their  unjust  and 
cruel  law,  and  they  would  thus  save  their  cotton, 
which  was  liable  to  be  destroyed  at  any  mo- 
ment  by  a  dash  of  rebel  cavalry.  I  now  hired 
a  large  number  of  wagons  to  haul  cotton  into 
Eastport  and  luka,  that  I  might  ship  it  to  the 
loyal  States.  On  the  2d  of  July  the  wagons 
were  to  rendezvous  at  a  certain  point;  there 
were  a  sufficient  number  to  haul  one  hundred 
bales  per  trip.  I  hoped  to  keep  them  running 
for  some  time. 

.On  the  first  of  July  I  rode  to  Mr.  Holland 
Lindsay's  on  business.  I  had  learned  that  he 
was  a  rabid  secessionist,  but  supposed  that  no 
rebel  cavalry  had  come  so  far  north  as  his 
house  since  the  evacuation  of  Corinth.  Mr. 
Lindsay  had  gone  to  a  neighbour's.  His  wife  was 
weaving;  she  was  a  coarse,  masculine  woman, 
and  withal  possessed  of  strong  prejudice  against 
all  whom  she  did  not  like,  but  especially  the 
7 


74  THE   IROX    FURNACE;    OR 

Yankees.  I  sat  down  to  await  the  arrival  of 
her  husband,  and  it  was  not  long  before  Mrs. 
Lindsay  broached  the  exciting  topic  of  the  day, 
the  war.  She  thus  vented  her  spleen  against 
the  Yankees. 

"  There  was  some  Yankee  calvary  passed 
here  last  week — they  asked  me  if  there  wos 
ony  rebels  scoutin  round  here  lately.  I  jest  told 
em  it  want  none  of  ther  bizness.  Them  nasty, 
good  for  nothin  scamps  callen  our  men  rebels. 
Them  nigger-stealin,  triflin  scoundrels.  They 
runs  off  our  niggers,  and  wont  let  us  take  em  to 
Mexico  and  the  other  territories." 

I  ventured  to  remark,  "The  Yankees  are 
mean,  indeed,  not  to  let  us  take  our  negroes  to 
the  Territories,  and  not  to  help  catch  them  for 
us  when  they  run  off." 

The  emphatic  us  and  our  nettled  her,  as  none 
of  the  Lindsays  ever  owned  a  negro,  being 
classed  by  the  southern  nabobs  as  among  the 
poor  white  trash;  nor  did  I  ever  own  a  slave. 
Her  husband,  however,  had  once  been  sent  to 
the  Legislature,  which  led  the  family  to  ape  the 
manners,  and  studiously  copy  the  ultraism  of 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  75 

the  classes  above  them.  Mrs.  Lindsay  became 
morose.  I  concluded  to  ride  over  and  see  her 
husband. 

On  m j  way  I  met  a  member  of  Hill's  cavalry. 
He  halted  me,  inquired  my  name  and  business, 
which  I  gave.  He  said  that,  years  ago,  he  had 
heard  me  preach,  and  that  he  was  well  ac 
quainted  with  my  brothers-in-law,  who  were 
officers  in  the  Rebel  army.  He  informed  me 
that  his  uncle,  Mr.  Lindsay,  had  gone  across 
the  field  home,  and  that  he  himself  was  on  his 
way  there.  I  returned  with  him,  but  fearing 
arrest,  my  business  was  hastily  attended  to,  and 
I  at  once  started  for  my  horse.  By  this  time 
one  or  two  other  cavalry-men  rode  up.  I 
heard  Mrs.  Lindsay  informing  her  nephew  that 
I  was  a  Union  man,  and  advising  my  arrest. 
When  I  had  reached  my  horse,  Mr.  Davis,  Lind 
say's  nephew  arrested  me,  and  sent  my  horse  to 
the  stable.  After,  supper  my  horse  was  brought, 
and  I  was  taken  to  camp.  Four  men  were 
detached  to  guard  me  during  the  night.  They 
ordered  me  to  lie  down  on  the  ground  and 
sleep.  As  it  had  rained  during  the  day,  and  I 


76  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

had  no  blanket,  I  insisted  upon  going  to  a  Mr. 
Spigener's,  about  fifty  yards  distant,  to  secure 
a  bed.  After  some  discussion  they  consented, 
the  guards  remaining  in  the  room,  and  guard 
ing  me  by  turns  during  the  night.  The  next 
morning  I  sought  Captain  Hill,  and  asked  per 
mission  to  return  home,  when  the  following 
colloquy  ensued. 

'•'Are  you  a  Union  man?" 

"I  voted  the  Union  ticket,  sir." 

"That  is  not  a  fair  answer.  I  voted  the 
Union  ticket  myself,  and  am  now  warring 
against  the  Union." 

"I  have  seen  no  good  reason  for  changing 
my  sentiments." 

"You  confess,  then,  that  you  are  a  Union 
man?" 

"I  do;  I  regard  the  union  of  these  States  as 
of  paramount  importance  to  the  welfare  of 
the  people  inhabiting  them." 

"  You  must  go  to  head-quarters,  where  you 
will  be  dealt  with  as  we  are  accustomed  to  deal 
with  all  the  abettors  of  an  Abolition  govern 
ment." 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  77 

A  heavy  guard  was  then  detached  to  take 
charge  of  me,  and  the  company  set  off  for 
Fulton,  the  county  seat  of  Ittawamba  county, 
Mississippi,  distant  thirty  miles.  After  going 
about  ten  miles,  we  halted,  and  two  men  were 
detached  to  go  forward  with  the  prisoners,  a 
Mr.  Benjamin  Clarke  and  myself.  Our  guards 
were  Dr.  Crossland,  of  Burnsville,  Tishomingo 
county,  Mississippi,  and  Ferdinand  Woodruff. 
They  were  under  the  influence  of  liquor,  and 
talked  incessantly,  cursing  and  insulting  us,  on 
every  occasion,  by  abusive  language.  They 
detailed  to  each  other  a  history  of  their  licen 
tious  amours.  We  halted  for  dinner  at  one 
o'clock,  and  -being  out  of  money,  they  asked 
me  to  pay  their  bill,  which  I  did,  they  pro 
mising  to  refund  the  amount  when  they  reached 
Fulton.  This  they  forgot  to  do. 

On  our  arrival  at  Fulton,  we  were  taken  into 
the  office  of  the  commander  of  the  post, 
Colonel  Bradfute.  My  fellow-prisoner  was 
examined  first.  Woodruff  stated  that  they 
had  played  off  on  Mr.  Clarke — calling  on 


78  THE   IRON  FURNACE;    OR 

him,  as  he  was  plowing  in  the  field,  stating 
that  they  were  Federal  soldiers.  They  asked 
Clarke  what  were  his  political  views.  He 
replied  that  he  always  had  been  a  Union 
man — had  voted  the  Union  ticket,  and  would 
do  it  again,  if  another  election  were  held;  that 
he  hated  the  secession  principles,  and  would 
enlist  in  the  Federal  army  as  soon  as  he  got 
his  crop  in  such  a  condition  that  his  family 
could  attend  to  it.  On  hearing  this  statement, 
Bradfute  became  very  angry,  swearing  that 
Clarke  ought  to  be  taken  out  and  shot  then, 
but  that  a  few  days'  respite  would  make  but 
little  difference.  Said  he,  addressing  the 
guards,  had  you  hung  Clarke,  you  would 
have  saved  us  some  trouble,  and  have  done 
your  country  good  service.  The  Colonel,  turn 
ing  round,  glared  upon  me  with  eyes  inflamed 
with  passion  and  liquor,  and  thus  addressed 
me: 

"Are  you  a  Union  man  too?" 

"I  am,  sir.     I  have  never  denied  it." 

"  Where  da  you  reside  ?"  * 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  79 

"I  consider  Kienzi  my  home,  but  have  been 
staying  for  some  time  at  my  father-in-law's,  in 
the  south-eastern  part  of  Tishomingo  county." 

"What  is  your  father-in-law's  name?" 

"Mr.  Alexander  Paden." 

"I  know  the  old  gentleman  and  his  three 
sons.  They  are  all  in  the  Confederate  service. 
They  are  brave  men,  and  have  done  some  hard 
fighting  in  our  cause.  How  happens  it  that 
you  look  at  matters  in  a  different  light  from 
your  relatives  ?" 

"I  am  not  guided  in  my  opinions  by  the 
views  of  my  friends." 

"What  is  your  profession?" 

"  I  am  a  minister  of.  the  gospel." 

"I  suppose,  then,  that  you  go  to  the  Bible 
for  your  politics,  and  that  you  are  a  sort  of 
higher-law  man." 

"My  Bible  teaches,  'Let  every  soul  be  sub 
ject  to  the  higher  powers,  for  there  is  no  power 
but  of  God ;  the  powers  that  be,  are  ordained 
of  God.  Whosoever,  therefore,  resisteth  the 
power,  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God;  and 
they  that  resist  shall  receive  to  themselves 


80  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

damnation.'  I  have  seen  no  reason  for  resist 
ance  to  the  government  under  which  we  have, 
as  a  nation,  so  long  prospered." 

"I  command  you  to  hush,  sir;  you  shan't 
preach  treason  to  me,  and  if  you  get  your  de 
serts  you  will  be  hung  immediately.  Have 
you  ever  been  within  the  Federal  lines  ?" 

"  I  have,  sir." 

"At  what  points?" 

"  At  Eienzi  and  luka." 

"  When  were  you  at  luka  ?" 

"  On  last  Saturday." 

"  Had  the  Federals  a  large  force  at  that  place, 
and  who  was  in  command  ?" 

"They  have  a  large  force,  and  Generals 
Thomas  and  Steadman  are  in  command." 

"  That  is  contrary  to  the  reports  of  our  scouts, 
who  say  that  there  are  but  two  regiments  in  the 
town.  I  fear  you  are  purposely  trying  to  mis 
lead  us." 

"General  Steadman  has  but  two  regiments 
in  the  town,  but  General  Thomas  is  within 
striking  distance  with  a  large  force." 

"  What  was  your  business  in  luka?" 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION".  81 

"  I  went  there  to  pay  a  debt  of  fifty  dollars 
which  a  widow  owed,  as  she  wished  it  to  be 
paid  in  Confederate  money  before  it  became 
worthless." 

"  Have  you  a  Federal  pass  ?" 

"I  have  none  with  me,  but  nave  one  at 
home."  4 

"How  does  it  read?" 

"  It  was  given  by  General  Nelson,  and  reads 
thus :  '  The  bearer,  Eev.  John  H.  Aughey,  has 
permission  to  pass  backward  and  forward 
through  the  lines  of  this  division  at  will.' " 

"  Where  were  you  born?" 

"  I  was  born  in  New  Hartford,  Oneida  coun 
ty,  New  York." 

"Yankee  born,"  said  the  Colonel,  with  a 
sneer;  "you  deserve  death  at  the  rope's-end, 
aud  if  I  had  the  power  I  would  hang  all  Yan 
kees  who  are  among  us,  for  they  are  all  tories, 
whatever  may  be  their  pretensions." 

"My  being  born  north  of  the  nigger-line, 
Colonel,  if  a  crime  worthy  of  death,  was  cer 
tainly  not  my  fault,  but  the  fault  of  my  parents. 
They  did  not  so  much  as  consult  me  in  regard 


82  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

to  any  preference  I  might  have  concerning  the 
place  of  my  nativity." 

"Woodruff,  one  of  my  guards,  now  informed 
the  Colonel  that  I  was  a  spy,  and,  while  the 
Confederates  were  at  Corinth,  had,  to  his  cer 
tain  knowledge,  been  three  times  at  Nashville, 
carrying  information.  I  told  Woodruff  that 
his  statement  was  false,  and  that  he  knew  it ; 
that  I  had  never  been  at  Nashville  in  my  life. 
General  Chalmers,  who  was  present,  and  Colonel 
Bradfute,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  examination, 
spent  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  in  bitterly  curs 
ing  all  Yankees,  tories,  and  traitors,  as  they 
termed  us.  All  the  conversation  of  the  rebel 
officers  was  interlarded  with  the  most  horrid 
profanity.  General  Chalmers,  in  speaking,  in 
variably  called  me  the  clerical  spy.  We  were 
placed  under  guard,  and  sent  to  Brooksville, 
ten  miles  distant,  the  head-quarters  of  General 
Pfeifer.  Immediately  after  our  arrival,  we  were 
soundly  berated  by  General  Pfeifer,  and  then 
sent  out  to  the  camp,  half  a  mile  from  the  town, 
where  we  were  placed  under  guard  for  the  night, 
in  a  small  plot  of  ground  surrounded  by  a  chain. 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  83 

We  had  no  supper,  and  no  blankets  to  sleep 
on.  Our  bed  was  the  cold  ground,  our  cover 
ing  the  blue  canopy  of  heaven.  The  next 
morning  we  were  started,  without  breakfast, 
under  a  heavy  guard,  numbering  fourteen 
cavalry,  to  Priceville,  six  miles  west  of  Brooks- 
ville.  Priceville  was  named  in  honour  of 
General  Sterling  Price,  or  rather  the  little 
village  where  he  encamped  had  its  name 
changed  in  his  honour.  "When  we  reached 
Priceville  we  were  taken  to  the  head-quarters 
of  General  Jordan,  and  immediately  brought 
into  his  presence.  After  reading  the  letter 
handed  to  him  by  one  of  the  guard,  he  said, 
looking  sternly  at  me, 

"You  are  charged  with  sedition." 

I  asked  him  what  sedition  meant,  to  which 
he  replied : 

"  It  means  enough  to  hang  you,  you  villan- 
ous  tory  1" 

He  also  asked  me  where  I  was  born.  My 
reply  was,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  near 
Utica,  in  Oneida  county. 

"Then  you  doubly  deserve  death,"  said  he. 


THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 


"  As  to  the  guilt  of  my  nativity/'  said  I,  "  it 
is  not  my  fault,  for  I  could  not  have  helped  it 
if  'I  had  tried.  But  I  glory  in  my  native  State. 
She  has  never  done  anything  to  disgrace  her. 
She  never  repudiated  her  just  debts,  nor  com 
mitted  any  other  disgraceful  act." 

"Well,  you  ought  to  have  staid  there,  or 
have  gone  back  when  Mississippi  seceded." 

"Give  me  an  opportunity,  and  I  will  go 
instanter." 

"  The  first  going  you  will  do,  will  be  to  go  to 
hell,  where,  if  the  devil  had  his  due,  you  would 
have  been  long  ago ;  and  before  you  leave  us, 
we  will  give  you  a  free  ticket  to  the  shades 
infernal." 

"  Thank  you  for  your  kind  offer  to  give  me 
a  free  pass  to  the  infernal  regions.  I  did  not 
know  before  that  you  were  the  devil's  ticket- 
agent.  You  have  me  in  your  power,  and  may 
destroy  my  life;  but  when  you  have  done  that, 
there  is  no  more  that  you  can  do." 

Very  little  was  said  to  my  fellow-prisoner, 
Clarke.  A  few  curses  for  a  traitor,  tory,  &c., 
was  about  all.  We  were  now  placed  under 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  85 

guard,  and  conducted  to  Tupelo,  and  after 
visiting  the  provost-marshal's  office  and  the 
office  of  the  commander  of  the  post,  whose 
names  were  Peden  and  Clare,  we  were  com 
mitted  to  the  Central  Military  Prison.  As  we 
entered,  Captain  Bruce  and  Lieutenant  Malone 
(two  gentlemen  who  had  been  elected  to  those 
offices  by  their  fellow-prisoners)  received  us 
with  a  cordial  greeting.  Captain  Bruce  thus 
addressed  us: 

"Welcome,  gentlemen,  thrice  welcome.  I 
am  rejoiced  to  see  you  at  my  hotel.  We  are 
now  doing  a  land-office  business,  as  the  large 
number  of  my  boarders,  whom  you  see,  will 
testify.  We  have  numerous  arrivals  daily, 
whilst  the  departures  are  very  few,  giving 
evidence  that  all  are  satisfied  with  their  treat 
ment.  The  bill  of  fare  is  not  very  extensive.  In 
these  war  times  we  must  not  expect  the  luxu 
ries  of  life,  but  be  content  with  the  necessaries. 
It  is  true,  we  cannot  furnish  you  with  coffee,  or 
molasses,  or  sugar,  or  salt,  or  beef,  or  vegeta 
bles  ;  but  we  have  something  more  substantial 
— we  have  flour,  rather  dark  in  colour,  to  be 
8 


86  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

sure,  but  people  must  not  be  squeamish.  The 
boarders  are  required  to  do  their  own  cooking, 
as  they  could  otherwise  have  but  little  exer 
cise;  we  consider  it  a  sanitary  measure,  exer 
cise  being  indispensable  to  health.  We  fur 
nish  the  boarders,  also,  with  meat — none  of 
your  lean  meat,  either,  but  fat  middling,  with  a 
streak  of  lean  in  it.  The  Bible  promises  the 
righteous  that  their  bread  shall  be  given,  and 
their  water  sure;  but  we  go  beyond  the  pro 
mise,  and  give  not  only  bread  (or  rather  the 
flour  to  make  it)  and  water,  but  also  fat,  strong 
meat.  "What  room  will  you  be  pleased  to 
have?" 

I  replied,  that  as  they  seemed  to  be  crowded, 
I  would  choose  number  199. 

"Well,"  said  the  Captain,  "it  shall  be  pre 
pared.  Lieutenant  Malone,  have  room  num 
ber  199  fitted  up  for  the  reception  of  these  gen 
tlemen." 

Lieutenant  Malone  replied,  that  the  room 
designated  would  be  fitted  up  in  style  for  our 
reception.  He  asked  us  if  we  had  dined. 

" No,"  replied  Clarke;  "we  have  not  tasted 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  87 

food  since  yesterday  at  noon,  when  the  Parson 
paid  for  his  own  dinner  and  the  dinner  of  the 
guards.  We  asked  for  something  to  eat,  but 
were  as  often  refused,  and  now  we  are  in  a 
starving  condition." 

"I  pity  you,"  said  Malone,  laying  aside  his 
facetious  style ;  "  you  shall  have  something  to 
eat  as  soon  as  it  can  be  cooked." 

He  then  went  to  some  of  the  prisoners,  and 
set  them  to  cooking,  and  we  were  soon  fur 
nished  with  the  best  repast  the  poor  fellows 
could  supply. 

We  entered  the  prison  July  3d,  1862,  at  two 
o'clock,  P.  M.  Our  prison  was  a  grocery- 
house,  its  dimensions  about  twenty -five  by  fifty 
feet.  When  we  were  incarcerated,  there  were, 
about  seventy  prisoners  tn  the  building,  whites, 
mulattoes  and  negroes.  The  prison  was  filthy 
in  the  extreme,  and  filled  with  vermin;  even 
our  food  was  infested  with  them.  No  brooms 
were  furnished  us,  and  we  could  not  sweep 
the  floor.  No  beds  were  furnished,  and  we 
were  compelled  to  lie  upon  the  floor,  with  no 


88  THE  IRON  FURNACE;   OR 

covering,  and  nothing  but  the  hard  planks 
beneath  us. 

Several  times  a  day  officers  would  come  in 
and  order  a  specified  number  of  men  to  go  and 
work,  under  a  strong  guard.  We  were  made 
to  clean  the  streets,  roll  barrels,  and  clean  the 
hospital ;  but  our  own  prison  we  were  not  per 
mitted  to  clean.  Every  kind  of  drudgery,  and 
the  most  menial  services,  were  imposed  upon 
us. 

The  crimes  charged  upon  the  prisoners  were 
desertion,  trading  with  the  Yankees,  adhesion 
to  the  United  States  government  or  Unionism, 
acting  as  spies,  refusing  Confederate  bonds, 
and  piloting  the  Yankees.  The  crime  of  the 
negroes  and  mulattoes  was  endeavouring  to 
escape  on  the  underground  railroad  from  Dixie 
land  and  the  Iron  Furnace.  These  remained 
till  their  masters  were  informed  of  their  arrest, 
and  came  for  and  released  them.  On  the  even 
ing  preceding  our  imprisonment,  two  prisoners 
had  been  led  out  and  shot,  and  I  soon  learned 
that  this  was  no  unusual  occurrence.  Nearly 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  89 

every  day  witnessed  the  execution  of  one  or 
more  of  us.  Those  who  were  doomed  to  die 
were  heavily  ironed.  In  some  cases,  however, 
those  who  were  not  in  fetters  were  taken  out 
and  shot  or  hanged,  often  with  no  previous 
warning ;  though  sometimes  a  few  hours  warn 
ing  was  given. 

Our  privations  were  so  great  from  a  want  of 
proper  food  and  water — for  the  scanty  amount 
of  water  furnished  us  was  tepid  and  foul — and 
from  a  lack  of  beds,  cots,  couches,  or  some 
thing  better  than  a  filthy  floor  whereon  to  sleep, 
that  I  resolved  to  attempt  an  escape  at  the  risk 
of  my  life.  I  felt  confident  that  I  could  not  long 
survive  such  cruel  treatment.  As  soon  as  my 
arrest  was  known  to  the  thirty-second  Missis 
sippi  regiment,  encamped  in  the  suburbs  of 
Tupelo,  the  colonel,  major,  adjutant,  and  one  of 
the  captains  called  upon  me.  This  regiment  was 
raised  in  Tishomingo  county,  one  of  the  com 
panies,  the  Zollicoffer  Avengers,  being  from 
Bienzi,  where  I  had  been  for  years  proprietor 
and  Principal  of  the  Kienzi  Female  Seminary. 
The  daughters  of  many  of  the  officers  of  this 


90 


regiment  had  been  educated  at  this  Seminary 
during  my  superintendence.  Some  of  these 
officers  had  expressed  themselves  under  great 
obligations  to  me,  for  the  thorough,  moral,  men 
tal,  and  physical  training  of  their  children 
while  under  my  care.  As  proof  of  this,  I  have 
their  own  statements,  as  published  in  the  public 
journals  of  the  day.  Owing  me  a  debt  of  grati 
tude,  as  they  professed,  could  I  expect  less  than 
the  manifestation  of  deep  sympathy  for  me  in 
my  sad  condition — confined  in  a  gloomy  dun 
geon,  deprived  of  the  comforts,  yea,  even  the 
necessaries  of  life,  menaced  and  insulted  by  the 
officers  in  whose  power  I  was  ?  Whatever  may 
have  been  my  hopes,  they  were  doomed  to  be 
blasted.  These  summer  friends,  so  obsequious 
in  my  prosperity,  conversed  for  a  while  on 
indifferent  topics,  never  alluding  to  my  condi 
tion,  and  as  I  did  not  obtrude  it  upon  their 
attention,  they  left,  promising  to  call  again.  I 
said,  "Do  so,  gentlemen;  you  will  always  find 
me  at  home"  Adjutant  Jrion,  as  he  passed  out, 
asked  Lieutenant  Malone  what  the  charge  was 
against  me.  Malone  replied  that  I  was  charged 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  91 

with  being  a  Union  man.  The  adjutant  said, 
in  a  bitter  and  sarcastic  tone,  that  I  should 
•never  have  been  brought  to  Tupelo,  but  on  my 
arrest  should  have  been  sent  to  hell  from  the 
lowest  limb  of  the  nearest  tree. 

Having  determined  to  escape  at  all  hazards,  I 
sought  out  an  accomplice,  a  compagnon  de  voyage; 
that  person  was  Richard  Malone ;  his  piercing 
eye,  his  intellectual  physiognomy,  led  me  to 
believe  that  if  he  consented  to  make  the  at 
tempt  with  me,  our  chances  for  escape  would  be 
good.  I  drew  Malone  to  one  side,  and  covertly 
introduced  the  matter.  He  soon  got  my  idea, 
and  drawing  from  his  pocket  a  paper,  showed 
me  the  route  mapped  out  which  he  intended  to 
pursue,  as  he  had  for  some  days  determined  to 
escape,  or  die  in  the  attempt.  He  was  charged 
with  being  a  spy,  and  there  was  little  doubt 
that  they  would  establish  his  guilt  by  false  tes 
timony.  We  went  out  now  under  every  possi 
ble  pretext.  "We  no  longer  shunned  the  guard 
who  came  to  obtain  prisoners  to  do  servile 
labour.  Our  object  being  to  reconnoitre,  in 
order  to  learn  where  guards  were  stationed,  and 


92  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

to  determine  the  best  method  of  escape  through 
the  town  after  leaving  the  prison.  During  the 
day  we  made  these  observations:  that  there 
were  two  guards  stationed  at  the  back  door,  who 
were  very  verdant;  that  they  would,  after 
relief,  come  on  duty  again  at  midnight;  that 
there  was  a  building  on  the  south  side  of  the 
prison,  extending  beyond  the  prison  and  beyond 
the  guards;  that  the  moon  would  set  about 
eleven  o'clock,  P.  M. ;  that  there  were  no 
guards  stationed  on  the  south  side  of  the  prison 
during  the  day;  ^iat  one  of  the  planks  in 
the  floor  could  be  easily  removed;  and  that 
there  were  several  holes,  when  we  were  once 
under  the  floor,  by  which  egress  might  be  made 
either  on  the  north  or  south  side;  that  the 
coast  was  probably  clearest  in  the  direction  of  a 
corn-field  some  two  hundred  yards  distant  in 
a  northwest  direction. 

At  four  o'clock  P.  M.,  our  plan  was  fully 
matured.  At  midnight,  (the  moon  being  down, 
and  the  verdant  guards  on  duty )  we  would 
raise  the  plank,  get  under  the  floor,  and  myself 
in  the  advance,  make  our  exit  through  one  of 


SLAVERY   AND   SECESSION.  93 

the  holes  on  the  south  side  of  the  jail,  then 
crawl  to  the  building,  some  fifteen  feet  distant, 
and  continue  crawling  till  we  passed  the  guards ; 
then  rise  and  make  our  way  as  cautiously  as 
possible,  to  a  point  in  the  corn-field,  a  short 
distance  in  the  rear  of  a  garment  which  was 
hanging  upon  the  fence.  The  one  who  first 
arrived  must  await  the  other.  A  signal  was 
agreed  upon,  to  prevent  mistake.  If  the 
guards  ordered  us  to  halt,  we  had  resolved  to 
risk  their  fire,  our  watchword  being,  Liberty 
or  death !  • 

About  this  time  the  prisoners  chose  me 
their  chaplain  by  acclamation.  During  the 
day,  we  made  known  our  intention  of  escap 
ing  to  several  fellow-prisoners,  who  promised 
us  all  the  assistance  in  their  power.  All  the 
prisoners  who  knew  of  the  matter,  earnestly 
desired  our  escape,  and  co-operated  with  us 
in  effecting  it.  Clarke  and  Robinson  begged 
us  to  take  them  along,  averring  there  was 
no  doubt  that  they  would  be  shot.  Malone 
told  them  that  no  more  than  two  could  go 


94:  THE  IRON  FURNACE;   OR 

together;  that  if  they  wished  to  escape,  they 
could  make  the  attempt  half  an  hour  after  us, 
which  they  agreed  to.  Clarke,  however,  came 
to  me,  and  desired  me  to  take  him  along, 
as  he  would  rather  go  with  us  than  with 
Robinson.  He  had  a  wife  and  five  small 
children  dependent  on  him  for  support,  and  if 
he  perished,  they  must  perish  too.  I  consulted 
Malone,  but  he  would  not  agree  to  have  Clarke 
go  with  us.  Three  would  be  too  many  for 
safety,  and  he  doubted  whether  Clarke  had  suf 
ficient  nerve  to  face  the  glittering  bayonet,  or 
tact  enough  to  pass  through  the  camps  with 
out  detection.  He  might  commit  some  blunder 
which  would  endanger  our  safety.  I  informed 
Clarke  that  the  arrangement  made,  in  which 
he  and  Eobinson  were  to  go  together,  must  be 
adhered  to.  He  begged  me,  by  all  that  was 
sacred,  to  take  him  along.  But  Malone  was 
inexorable,  and  I  thought  it  best  to  acquiesce 
in  his  judgment. 

Night  drew  on  apace.     Thick  darkness  gath 
ered  around  us,  and  murky  clouds  covered  the 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  95 

sky,  as  we  sat  down  with  the  Federal  prisoners 
to  our  scanty  allowance.  While  partaking  of 
our  rude  fare,  Malone  thus  spoke : 

"  This  day  is  the  4th  of  July,  1862,  the  anni 
versary  of  our  patriot  fathers'  declaration  of 
independence  of  British  tyranny  and  oppres 
sion.  They  had  much  to  complain  of.  They 
suffered  grievous  wrongs  and  cruel  bondage. 
But  eighty-six  years  ago  to-day  they  declared 
themselves  to  be  a  free  and  independent  peo 
ple,  who  would  rather  die  than  be  again 
enslaved.  Of  what  worth  was  their  declaration 
if  they  had  remained  inactive?  Supineness 
would  not  have  saved  them.  But  trusting  in 
our  God,  who  gives  success  to  the  righteous 
cause,  they  imperilled  their  lives,  they  hazard 
ed  their  fortunes,  and  with  untiring  energy  and 
sleepless  vigilance  they  contested  to  the  bitter 
end  against  all  efforts  to  deprive  them  of  their 
inalienable  rights.  Success  crowned  their  ef 
forts,  and  they  rid  themselves  of  tyrants'  chains. 
We  (I  allude  to  my  friend,  Parson  Aughey,  and 
myself,)  degenerate  sons  of  these  noble  sires, 
have  suffered  wrong,  nay,  gross  outrage.  Citi- 


96  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 


zens  of  the  sunny  South,  guilty  of  no  offence 
whatever,  not  even  of  constructive  crime,  we 
are  immured  in  a  loathsome  dungeon,  deprived 
of  the  comforts  of  life,  separated  from  our 
families,  and  suffered  to  have  no  communica 
tion  with  them;  dragging  out  a  miserable  exist 
ence,  which  an  ignominious  death  on  the  scaf 
fold  must  soon  end.  We,  therefore,  John  H. 
Aughey  and  Eichard  Malone,  in  view  of  these 
accumulated  wrongs  and  outrages,  solemnly 
swear  before  High  Heaven,  and  in  presence  of 
these  witnesses,  that  we  will  be  free,  or  perish 
in  the  attempt.  Appealing  to  the  God  of  liber 
ty,  of  truth,  and  of  righteousness,  for  the  recti 
tude  of  our  motives  and  the  justness  of  our 
cause,  we  commit  ourselves  into  his  hands, 
and  implore  his  protection  amid  the  dangers 
through  which  we  are  about  to  pass,  and  hum 
bly  pray  that  he  will  give  us  success,  and 
restore  us  speedily  to  our  families  and  friends, 
and  to  the  enjoyment  of  our  inalienable  rights, 
life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

Grasping  the  Lieutenant  by  the  hand,  I  con 
sented  to  this  Declaration  of  Independence  of 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  97 

rebel  thraldom.  We  gave  our  respective 
addresses  to  our  friends,  who  promised,  that  if 
they  were  ever  liberated,  and  we  were  killed 
by  the  guards,  they  would  write  to  our  fami 
lies,  informing  them  of  the  manner  of  our 
death. 

About  ten  o'clock,  Malone  raised  the  plank, 
and  I  went  under  to  reconnoitre.  I  remained 
under  the  floor  about  ten  minutes,  having 
learned  that  there  were  no  guards  patroling  the 
south  side  of  the  house,  as  we  feared  might  be 
the  case  after  night.  "We  had  learned,  from 
observation,  that  there  were  none  during  the 
day.  Just  at  the  noon  of  night,  we  heard  the 
relief  called,  Malone  and  I  endeavoured  to 
find  the  prisoners  who  were  to  raise  the  plank, 
but  not  being  able  readily  to  do  so,  we  raised 
the  plank  ourselves,  and  both  got  under  with 
out  difficulty.  Malone  getting  under  first,  was, 
contrary  to  agreement,  compelled  to  take  the 
lead.  As  he  was  passing  out,  he  made  con 
siderable  noise.  To  warn  him  of  the  danger, 
I  patted  him  on  the  back.  Reaching  back,  he 
gave  my  hand  a  warm  pressure,  to  assure  me 
9 


98  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

that  all  was  right,  and  passed  out.  I  followed, 
and  reached  the  designated  point  in  the  corn 
field  in  about  half  an  hour,  having  to  use  the 
utmost  precaution,  and  in  some  cases  to  pass 
the  guards  by  crawling  in  a  serpentine  manner. 
When  I  arrived,  I  gave  the  preconcerted  sig 
nal,  but  Malone  was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  I 
waited  for  him  two  hours  at  least,  when  I  was 
compelled  to  seek  my  safety  alone. 

Not  being  able  to  meet  with  my  friend,  I 
regarded  as  a  great  misfortune,  because,  after 
reaching  a  point  ten  miles  north  of  Tupelo,  he 
would  be  familiar  with  the  country.  I  had  fre 
quently  passed  through  the  town  on  the  rail 
road,  but  knew  nothing  of  the  country  through 
which  I  must  travel.  Somewhat  depressed  in 
spirits  at  the  loss  of  my  compagnon  de  voyage, 
I  resolved  to  reach  my  family  by  the  safest  and 
most  practicable  route.  Still  in  the  midst  of 
camps,  I  had  considerable  difficulty  in  making 
my  way  out  of  them.  When  I  thought  that 
this  had  been  effected,  I  found  that  day  was 
brightening  in  the  east.  Looking  around  for 
some  place  to  hide,  I  soon  found  a  dense, 


SLAVERY   AND   SECESSION.  99 

though  small  thicket,  in  which  I  secreted 
myself  as  covertly  as  possible.  Having  slept 
but  little  since  my  arrest,  I  endeavoured  to 
compose  myself  to  slumber,  and  partially  suc- 
ceded;  but  soon  the  noise  and  confusion  of 
soldiers  passing  and  re-passing  near,  awoke  and 
alarmed  me.  I  soon  learned  that  I  was  near  a 
camp,  and  that  the  soldiers  had  found  a  suit 
able  place  for  bathing  in  a  creek  which  ran 
within  thirty  yards  of  my  place  of  conceal 
ment.  There  were  two  paths  by  which  they 
reached  the  creek.  On  one,  they  passed  within 
fifteen  feet  of  me ;  on  the  other,  within  six  or 
seven.  About  nine  o'clock,  I  heard  the  boom 
ing  of  cannon  all  around  me,  proceeding  from 
the  different  camps.  The  soldiers  who  passed 
me  stated,  in  their  conversation,  that  the  can 
non  were  firing  in  honour  of  a  great  victory 
obtained  over  General  McClellan,  in  Virginia. 
According  to  their  statement,  his  whole  army, 
after  a  succession  of  losses,  during  eight  days' 
fighting,  had  been  completely  annihilated,  and 
that  Stonewall  Jackson  would  be  in  Washing 
ton  city  before  the  close  of  the  week. 


100 

The  day  passed  slowly  away.  At  one  time 
two  soldiers  came  within  a  few  feet  of  me  in 
search  of  blackberries,  but  passed  out  without 
detecting  me.  At  another  time  two  soldiers  sat 
down  to  converse,  so  near  that  their  lowest  tones 
were  distinctly  audible.  One  informed  the  other 
that  he  had  been  in  town  in  the  morning,  and 
had  learned  that  the  Clerical  Spy,  Parson 
Aughey,  and  a  fellow  by  the  name  of  Malone, 
had  broke  jail,  but  that  they  would  soon  be 
brought  in,  as  a  company  of  cavalry  had  been 
put  on  their  track,  with  a  pack  of  bloodhounds. 
Soon  after  this,  one  of  them  arose  and  struck  a 
bush  several  times,  which  seemed  to  be  but  a 
very  short  distance  above  my  head.  I  thought 
that  he  had  discovered  me,  and  was  about  to 
rise  and  run,  when  I  heard  him  say  to  his  com 
panion,  that  he  had  attempted  to  kill  a  very 
large  snake,  which  had  escaped  to  the  bushes. 
I  began  to  feel  somewhat  uncomfortably  situ 
ated  when  I  learned  that  I  was  in  close  prox 
imity  to  a  large  snake,  though  I  would  have 
preferred  meeting  with  an  anaconda,  boa-con 
strictor,  rattlesnake,  or  even  the  deadly  cobra 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  101 

di  capello,  rather  than  with  those  vile  secession 
ists  thirsting  for  innocent  blood. 

I  thought  this  5th  of  July  was  the  longest 
day  I  had  ever  known.  The  sun  was  so  long 
in  reaching  the  zenith,  and  so  slow  in  passing 
down  the  steep  ecliptic  way  to  the  Occident. 
The  twilight,  too,  seemed  of  endless  duration. 
But  as  all  long  days  have  had  an  end,  so  had 
this.  The  stars  came  glittering  one  by  one.  I 
soon  recognised  that  old  staunch  and  immovable 
friend  of  all  travellers  on  the  underground  rail 
road,  the  polar-star. 

Kising  from  my  lair,  I  was  soon  homeward 
bound,  guided  by  the  north-star  and  an  oriental 
constellation.  Plunging  into  a  dense  wood  I 
found  my  rapid  advance  impeded  by  the  un 
dergrowth,  and  great  difficulty  in  following  my 
guiding  stars,  as  the  boughs  of  the  great  oaks 
rendered  them  invisible,  or  dimly  seen.  Fa 
tigued,  hungry,  and  sleepy,  I  at  length  lay 
down  at  the  foot  of  a  large  swamp-oak  tree, 
intending  to  take  a  nap;  and  then  rise  and  pur 
sue  my  journey.  When  I  awoke  the  sun  was 
just  rising.  I  arose  rilled  with  regret  for  the 
9* 


102  THE  IRON  FURNACE;   OR 

time  I  had  lost.  Though  somewhat  refreshed 
by  my  sound  sleep,  yet  I  was  very  hungry 
and  almost  famished  with  thirst. 

After  travelling  about  half  a  mile  I  came  to 
a  small  log-house  on  a  road-side.  Feeling  sick 
and  faint,  I  resolved  to  go  to  the  house  to 
obtain  water,  and,  if  I  liked  the  appearance  of 
the  inmates,  to  reveal  my  condition,  and  ask  for 
aid.  Upon  reaching  the  house  I  met  the  pro 
prietor,  but  did  not  like  his  physiognomy.  He 
looked  the  villain ;  a  sinister  expression,  a  coun 
tenance  revealing  no  intellectuality,  except  a  sort 
of  low  cunning,  bore  testimony  that  it  would 
be  foolish  to  repose  confidence  in  the  possessor 
of  such  villanous  looks,  I  asked  for  water,  in 
tending  to  drink  and  leave.  He  pointed  to  the 
bucket ;  I  drank  and  bade  him  good  morning, 
and  turned  to  leave.  I  had  proceeded  but 
a  few  steps,  when  I  was  ordered,  in  a  sten 
torian  tone,  to  halt.  On  looking  round,  I 
saw  a  soldier  within  a  few  steps,  presenting  a 
double-barrelled  gun;  another  soldier  was 
standing  near,  heavily  armed.  I  asked  by 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  103 

wliat  authority  lie  halted  me.  To  which  he 
replied : 

"  I  know  you,  sir ;  I  have  heard  you  preach 
frequently.  You  are  Parson  Aughey,  and  you 
were  arrested  and  confined  in  prison  at  Tupelo. 
I  was  in  Lowrey's  regiment  yesterday,  and 
learned  that  you  had  broken  jail ;  and  now,  sir, 
you  must  return.  My  name  is  Dan  Barnes. 
You  may  have  heard  of  me." 

I  had  indeed  heard  of  him.  He  had  been 
guilty  of  robbing  the  United  States  mail,  had 
fled  to  Napoleon  or  Helena,  Arkansas,  where 
he  was  arrested,  brought  back,  and  incarcer 
ated  in  jail  at  Pontotoc,  and  confined  there  for 
nearly  a  year.  As  the  evidence  against  him 
was  positive,  he  would  have  been  sent  to  the 
penitentiary;  but,  fortunately  for  him,  at  this 
juncture  Mississippi  seceded.  There  being  then 
no  United  States  officers  to  execute  the  laws, 
he  was  liberated,  and  soon  after  joined  the 
army. 

After  breakfast,  which  I  paid  for,  Barnes 
called  me  to  one  side,  and  told  me  that  he  felt 
sorry  for  me,  and  would  afford  me  an  opportu- 


10-i  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

nity  of  escaping,  if  I  would  pay  him  a  reason 
able  sum.  He  had  been  in  a  tight  place  him 
self,  and  would  have  been  glad  had  some  friend 
been  near  to  aid  him.  He  named  two  hundred 
and  forty  dollars  as  the  reasonable  sum  for 
permitting  me  to  escape.  After  getting  my 
money,  their  horses  were  saddled,  and  telling 
me  he  was  playing-off  on  me,  said  I  must  go  to 
General  Jordan's  head-quarters  at  Priceville,  to 
which  place  he  and  Huff,  the  proprietor  of  the 
log  cabin,  conducted  me. 

On  my  arrival,  General  Jordan  ordered  me 
to  be  put  in  irons,  and  placed  under  guard.  I 
was  taken  to  a  blacksmith's  shop  in  the  town, 
the  General  accompanying  the  guard,  and  heavy 
iron  bands  were  put  around  my  ankles,  and 
connected  by  a  chain.  The  bands  were  put  on 
hot,  and  my  boots  were  burnt  in  the  operation. 
The  blacksmith  seemed  averse  to  the  order,  and 
only  obeyed  it  upon  compulsion.  The  General 
stood  by,  and  saw  that  it  was  well  done.  "  Iron 
him  securely — securely,  sir,"  was  his  oft  re 
peated  order.  The  ironing  caused  me  much 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  105 

pain.     My  ankles  were  long  discoloured  from 
the  effects  of  it. 

After  my  manacles  were  put  on,  I  was 
taken  back  to  Tupelo  by  Barnes  and  another 
guard.  On  my  arrival,  the  commander  of  the 
post  and  the  "Provost  Marshal  were  filled  with 
joy.  Barnes  gave  them  the  history  of  the 
arrest,  stating  that- 1  had  attempted  to  bribe 
him ;  that  he  listened  to  my  proposition  with 
indignation,  and  when  he  had  got  the  money, 
performed  what  he  regarded  his  duty.  The 
commander  replied  that  all  the  property  of 
traitors  was  theirs,  and  that  he  did  right  in 
deceiving  me,  after  accepting  the  bribe.  Ho 
also  recommended  Barnes  for  promotion  for  his 
heroic  and  patriotic  act  in  arresting  me.  (Per 
haps  it  secured  for  him  a  captaincy.)  The  fol 
lowing  colloquy  now  took  place  between  the 
commander  of  the  post,  the  Provost  Marshal, 
and  myself: 

"  Why  did  you  attempt  to  leave  us  ?" 
"Because,  sir,  your  prison  was  so  filthy,  and 
your  fare  so  meagre  and  unwholesome,  that  I 
could  not  endure  it  long,  and  live." 


106 

"Parson,  you  know  the  Bible  says,  the 
wicked  flee  when  no  man  pursueth,  but  the 
righteous  are  as  bold  as  a  lion.  You  must 
have  been  guilty  of  crime,  or  you  would  not 
have  tried  to  escape." 

"I  may  have  been  guilty  of  the  offence 
charged  against  me,  and  yet  innocent  of  real 
guilt." 

"You  shall  never  be  taken  back  to  the 
prison  you  left,  rest  assured  of  that.  Did  any 
of  the  prisoners  know  of  or  aid  you  in  your 
escape  ?" 

"No,  sir;  none  of  them  knew  anything 
about  it." 

"  Are  you  telling  the  truth?" 

"lam." 

"Where  is  Malone?" 

"  I  never  saw  him  after  I  left  the  building." 

"lie  cannot  escape;  the  cavalry  are  after 
him,  and  he  will  be  brought  in  soon,  dead  or 
alive." 

"  Why  did  you  attempt  to  bribe  Barnes  ?" 

"It   was   his   own   offer.      I   know  that  his 

cupidity  was  great,  and  thought  it  no  harm  to 

*  * 


SLAVERY   AND   SECESSION.  107 

accept  his  offer.  If  Barnes  had  his  deserts,  he 
would  now  be  hard  at  work  in  the  peni 
tentiary." 

"Did  the  jury  that  tried  him,  acquit  him?" 
"No.  The  secession  of  Mississippi  saved 
him.  I  refer  you  to  Colonel  Tison,  who  is  in 
Tupelo,  for  the  particulars.  He  being  marshal 
of  North  Mississippi,  arrested  Barnes,  and 
knows  all  about  it.  He  found  on  his  person 
the  evidence  of  his  guilt,  the  money  and  checks 
stolen  when  he  robbed  the  mail." 

"  Parson,  you  will  not  be  immediately  exe 
cuted,  but  you  will,  without  doubt,  hang  in  a 
week  or  two,  so  that,  if  you  have  any  word  to 
send  your  family,  you  have  permission  to  do 
so." 

"May  I  write  a  letter  to  my  wifej" 
"You   may,  and   I  will   see  that  it  is   for 
warded  to  her." 

I  sat  down  and  wrote  a  letter,  a  very 
common-place  letter,  to  my  wife,  inserting, 
occasionally,  a  word  in  phonography,  which, 
taken  in  connection,  read  thus :  "If  possible, 
inform  General  Eosecrans  or  Nelson  of  my 


108  THE  IRON   FURNACE:   OR 


arrest."  While  inspecting  the  letter,  Lieu 
tenant  Peden  noticed  the  phonography,  and 
asked  me  to  read  it.  I  read  it  thus :  "  My 
dear  wife,  I  hope  to  be  at  home  soon.  Do  not 
grieve."  This  letter  they  never  sent.  It  was 
merely  an  act  of  duplicity  on  their  part,  to 
obtain  some  concession,  which  might  be  used 
against  me.  The  guard,  receiving  orders,  now 
conducted  me  to  a  hotel,  and  placed  me  in  a 
small  room,  two  guards  remaining  inside,  and 
two  at  the  door  outside,  with  orders  to  shoot  me 
if  I  made  the  least  attempt  at  escape.  I  re 
mained  in  this  room  only  a  few  hours,  after 
which  I  was  taken  to  my  old  prison.  As  I 
entered,  my  old  friends,  the  prisoners,  crowded 
around  me,  and  Captain  Bruce  addressed  me 
in  his  facetious  manner.  In  prison,  his  wit  had 
beguiled  many  a  tedious  hour.  His  humour 
was  the  pure  Attic  salt. 

"Parson  Aughey,  you  are  welcome  back  to 
my  house,  though  you  have  played  us  rather  a 
scurvy  trick  in  leaving  without  giving  me  the 
least  inkling  of  the  matter,  or  settling  your 
bill." 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  109 

I  replied:  ''Captain,  it  was  hardly  right;  but 
I  did  not  like  your  fare,  and  your  beds  were 
filled  with  vermin." 

"  Well,  you  do  not  seem  to  have  fared  better 
since  you  left,  for  you  have  returned." 

"  Captain,  my  return  is  the  result  of  coercion. 
Some  who  oppose  this  principle  when  applied 
to  themselves,  have  no  scruples  in  enforcing  it 
upon  others. 

"  No  rogue  e'er  felt  the  halter  draw, 
With  good  opinion  of  the  law ;" 

is  an  old  saw,  and  the  truth  of  proverbs  is  sel 
dom  affected  by  time.  I  am  your  guest  upon 
compulsion;  but  remember,  I  will  leave  you 
the  first  opportunity." 

Upon  hearing  this,  an  officer  present  swore 
that  when  I  again  left  that  building,  it  would  be 
to  cross  the  railroad,  (tfte  place  of  execution.) 

The  prisoners  gathered  around  me,  and  I 
related  to  them  my  adventures.  They  then 
informed  me  of  what  had  transpired  during  my 
absence.  Clarke  was  taken  out  of  prison  to 
guide  a  cavalry  company  in  search  of  me. 
10 


110  THE  IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

Clarke  informed  me  that  they  scoured  the 
country,  and  then  went  to  my  father-in-law's; 
and  after  searching  the  premises,  returned, 
believing  that  I  had  gone  due  north  towards 
Eienzi,  in  which  direction  another  company 
had  been  despatched.  On  their  return,  Clarke 
was  remanded  to  jail.  At  roll-call — seven 
o'clock,  A.  M.,  we  were  missed.  The  cavalry 
were  immediately  sent  in  pursuit.  All  the 
guards  on  duty  during  the  night  were  put 
under  arrest.  Our  method  of  escape  was  soon 
discovered,  and  the  guards  were  released,  as 
they  were  not  at  fault.  A  large  number  of 
spikes  were  hammered  in  the  floor,  the  guards 
were  doubled,  and  greater  vigilance  enjoined. 
The  prisoners  were  questioned,  strictly  and 
individually,  to  learn  whether  any  of  them 
knew  of  our  intention  to  escape,  or  had  ren 
dered  us  any  assistance.  They  all  positively 
denied  any  knowledge  of  the  matter.  They 
asked  me  whether  I  had  given  the  officers  any 
information  about  their  knowledge  of  our 
designs,  and  cooperation  in  effecting  them.  I 
replied  that  I  had  positively  denied  that  any 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  Ill 

except  Malone  and  myself  were  privy  to  our 
plans. 

I  may  state  here  that  it  is  difficult  to  justify 
a  falsehood.  We  ought  to  utter  truth  always, 
without  exaggeration  or  prevarication,  leaving 
consequences  with  God.  We  should  do  right 
without  regard  to  results,  for  with  consequences 
we  have  no  business;  but  in  this  case  the 
temptation  to  utter  an  untruth  was  great. 
These  wicked  men,  thirsting  for  my  blood,  had 
no  right  to  make  me  criminate  myself  or  my 
coadjutors.  It  would  have  been  wrong  for  me 
to  give  them  the  information  they  desired. 
Truth  is  too  precious  for  a  secessionist,  thirst 
ing  for  innocent  blood.  Had  I  refused  to 
.answer,  they  would  have  suspected  that  some 
of  my  fellow-prisoners  aided  us,  and  would 
have  either  forced  me  to  tell  who  they  were,  or 
would  have  hanged  me  instantly  for  my  refu 
sal.  If  I  had  given  information,  and  crimi 
nated  those  who  had  befriended  us,  they  would 
have  been  severely  punished,  and  I  have  been 
guilty  of  the  basest  ingratitude;  I  would 
have  been  shunned  by  the  prisoners,  and 


112  THE  IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

regarded  as  one  of  the  meanest  of  men,  one 
of  the  veriest  wretches  in  existence;  I  could 
never  again  ask  nor  expect  aid  in  a  similar 
attempt  to  save  myself  from  a  violent  death. 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  113 


CHAPTER    IV. 

LIFE    IN    A    DUNGEON. 

Parson  Aughey  as  Chaplain — Description  of  the  Prisoners — 
Colonel  Walter,  the  Judge  Advocate — Charges  and  Speci 
fications  against  Parson  Aughey — A  Citizen  of  the  Con- 

'  federate  States — Execution  of  two  Tennesseeans — En 
listment  of  Union  Prisoners — Colonel  Walter's  second 
visit — Day  of  Execution  specified — Farewell  Letter  to 
my  Wife — Parson  Aughey's  Obituary  penned  by  him 
self — Address  to  his  Soul — The  Soul's  Reply — Farewell 
Letter  to  his  Parents — The  Union  Prisoners'  Petition  to 
Hon.  W.  H.  Seward— The  two  Prisoners  and  the  Oath  of 
Allegiance — Irish  Stories. 

I  WAS  remanded  to  jail  on  Sabbath,  the  6th 
of  July,  1862.  On  the  day  of  my  escape  I  had 
been  elected  chaplain.  Captain  Bruce  asked 
permission  fo^r  me  to  hold  divine  service,  to 
which  no  special  objection  was  made.  I  con 
ducted  the  services  as  I  would  have  done  were 
I  in  my  own  pulpit.  The  best  order  was  main 
tained  by  the  prisoners,  and  a  deep  serious 
ness  prevailed.  The  songs  of  Zion  resounded 
through  the  prison-house,  and  a  great  con- 
10* 


114  THE   IKON   BtJRXACE;   OR 

course  of  soldiers  assembled  outside  the  guards 
in  front  of  the  door,  causing  considerable  inter 
ruption  by  their  noise  and  insulting  language. 
Several  officers,  also,  saw  fit  to  come  in  and 
interrupt  the  services  by  conversing  in  a  loud 
tone,  and  asking  me  how  I  liked  my  jewelry, 
referring  to  my  fetters.  The  prisoners  protest 
ed  against  their  rude  and  ungentlemanly  con 
duct,  but  with  little  effect.  They  sent  a  remon 
strance  to  the  commander  of  the  post,  but  he 
treated  it  with  silent  contempt. 

As  the  prisoners  insisted  upon  it,  I  persisted 
in  preaching,  notwithstanding  the  persecutions 
endured,  as  long  as  I  remained  with  them.  We 
were  a  motley  assemblage.  Some  were  dressed 
in  cloth  of  finest  texture;  others  were  clad  in 
filthy  rags.  There  were  present  the  learned 
and  the  illiterate,  the  rowdy  anok  the  minister 
of  the  gospel,  the  holy  and  the  profane,  the 
saint  and  the  sinner.  All  the  Southern  States, 
and  every  prominent  religious  denomination 
were  represented.  The  youth  in  his  nonage, 
and  the  gray -haired  and  very  aged  man  were 
there.  The  superior  and  the  subordinate  were 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  115 

with  us.  The  descendants  of  Shem,  Ham,  and 
Japheth,  were  here  on  the  same  common  level, 
for  in  our  prison  were  Afric's  dark-browed 
sons,  the  descendants  of  Pocahontas,  and  the 
pure  Circassian.  Death  is  said  to  be  THE  great 
leveller ;  the  dungeon  at '  Tupelo  was  a  great 
leveller.  A  fellow-feeling  made  us  wondrous 
kind;  none  shared  his  morsel  alone,  and  a  deep 
and  abiding  sympathy  for  each  other's  woes 
pervaded  every  bosom.  When  our  fellow-pri 
soners  were  called  to  die,  and  were  led  through 
us  with  pallid  brows,  and  agony  depicted  on 
their  countenances,  our  expressions  of  sorrow 
and  commiseration  were  not  loud  (through 
fear)  but  deep. 

On  Monday  morning  an  officer  entered ;  my 
name  was  called,  and  I  arose  from  the  floor  on 
which  I  had  been  reclining.  I  recognised  him 
as  my  old  friend,  Colonel  H.  W.  Walter,  of 
Holly  Springs,  Mississippi.  After  the  ordinary 
salutations,  he  informed  me  that  he  was  Judge 
Advocate,  and  that  my  trial  would  take  place 
in  a  few  days,  and  inquired  whether  I  wished 
to  summon  any  witnesses.  I  gave  him  the 


116  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

names  and  residences  of  several  witnesses,  but 
he  refused  to  send  for  them,  upon  the  plea 
that  they  were  too  near  the  Federal  lines,  and 
their  cavalry  might  be  in  danger  of  capture 
were  they  to  proceed  thither.  I  told  him  that 
the  cavalry  which  went  in  pursuit  of  me  had 
visited  that  locality.  He  then  wished  to  know 
what  I  desired  to  prove  by  those  witnesses.  I 
replied  that  I  wished  to  prove  that  the  specifi 
cations  in  the  charge  of  being  a  spy  were  false. 
"Your  own  admissions  are  sufficient  to  cause 
you  to  lose  your  life,"  said  the  Colonel,  "and  I 
will  not  send  for  those  witnesses." 

I  replied :  "I  know  that  I  must  die,  and  you 
need  not  go  through  the  formality  of  a  trial. 
If  condemned  as  a  spy,  I  must  be  hanged.  I 
only  wished  the  witnesses  to  prove  that  Wood 
ruff  is  a  man  of  no  moral  worth,  that  his  testi 
mony  is  false;  that  Barnes  is  a  mail-robber, 
and  that  his  testimony,  therefore,  should  be 
rejected.  Proving  these  facts,  the  other  charges 
which  I  admit,  will  cause  me  to  be  shot.  I 
hope  I  am  prepared  to  die,  but  do  not  wish  to 
die  a  dog's  death.  Promise  me  that  I  shall  be 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  117 

shot,  and  not  hanged,  and  I  will  cavil  no 
more." 

"Parson  Aughey,  your  chances  for  living 
are  very  slender.  The  proof  against  you  on 
both  charges  will  be  established ;  the  testimony 
as  to  your  guilt  is  positive,  and  spies  are 
always  hanged." 

He  then  stated  the  charges  and  specifications 
against  me  as  follows : 

First  charge — Treason. 

Specification  1st.  That  said  Aughey  stated  to 
a  member  of  Hill's  cavalry,  that  if  McClellan 
were  defeated,  the  North  could  raise  a  much 
larger  army  in  a  very  short  time;  that  the 
North  would  eventually  conquer  the  South, 
and  that  he  was  a  Union  man — this  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the 
enemy. 

Specification  2d.  That  when  said  Aughey 
was  requested  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  Confederate  States,  he  refused,  giving  as  a 
reason,  that  England,  France,  and  himself,  had 
not  yet  recognised  the  Southern  Confederacy, 
stating,  also,  that  he  had  voluntarily  taken  the 


118  THE  IRON  FURNACE;   OR 

oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States  Govern 
ment,  which  he  regarded  as  binding — this  in 
North  Mississippi. 

Specification  3d.  That  said  Aughey  was  act 
ing  as  a  Federal  agent  in  the  purchase  of  cot 
ton,  and  had  received  from  the  United  States 
Government  a  large  amount  of  gold,  to  pay  for 
the  cotton  purchased. 

Second  charge — Acting  as  a  spy. 

Specification  1st.  That  said  Aughey,  while  a 
citizen  of  the  Confederate  States,  repeatedly 
came  into  our  lines  for  the  purpose  of  obtain 
ing  information  for  the  benefit  of  the  enemy, 
and  that  he  passed  through  the  lines  of  the 
enemy  at  pleasure,  holding  an  unlimited  pass 
from  General  Nelson,  granting  that  privilege — 
this  in  the  vicinity  of  Corinth,  Mississippi. 

Witnesses, Wallace,  Dan  Barnes,  Ferdi 
nand  Woodruff,  -  -  Williams,  David  Huff. 

I  demanded  a  copy  of  the  charges,  which 
Colonel  Walter  promised  to  furnish. 

About  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  I  went 
to  a  couple  of  prisoners  who  were  heavily 
ironed;  they  were  handcuffed,  had  a  chain  on 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  119 

their  legs  similar  to  mine,  and  were  chained 
together  to  a  post,  or  to  some  fixture  at  the 
side  of  the  jail.  I  inquired  for  what  offence 
they  were  incarcerated. 

The  prisoner  whom  I  addressed  was  a  tall 
gentleman,  with  a  very  intellectual  counte 
nance,  and  of  prepossessing  manners.  He  was 
somewhat  pale,  and  wore  a  sad  countenance. 
He  replied : 

"We  are  charged  with  desertion." 

"Did  you  desert?" 

"I  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  service  for 
twelve  months.  At  the  expiration  of  my  term 
of  service;  I  asked  permission  to  return  home, 
stating  that  my  family  were  suffering  for  the 
necessaries  of  life ;  that  they  lived  in  Tennessee, 
which  is  occupied  by  Federal  troops.  Confede 
rate  bonds  are  there  not  worth  the  paper  on 
which  they  are  printed ;  provisions  are  scarce, 
and  my  family  have  not  the  means  of  pur 
chasing.  I  wish  to  relieve  their  wants,  and  as 
my  term  of  service  has  expired,  I  wish  a  dis 
charge.  This  they  refused,  stating  that  the 
Confederate  Congress  had  passed  a  law  requir- 


120  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

ing  all  troops  who  had  enlisted  for  any  term, 
however  short,  to  be  held  to  service  during 
the  war,  and  all  who  left  before  that  time 
would  be  considered  guilty  of  desertion,  and 
if  arrested,  would  be  shot.  I  attempted  to 
return  to  my  family,  regarding  the  law  a  tyran 
nical  enactment.  I  was  arrested  and  commit 
ted  to  this  prison." 

"What  will  be  your  fate?" 
"I  know  not,  but  fear  the  worst." 
I  learned  that  the  other  prisoner  had  about 
the  same  statement  to  make,  and  was  also  in 
dread  of  capital  punishment.  I  left  them  and 
walked  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  prison,  when 
I  observed  a  file  of  soldiers  drawn  up  in  front 
of  the  building.  Two  officers  entered,  and 
walking  up  to  the  two  prisoners  whom  I  had 
just  left,  unfastened  their  chains,  and  ordered 
them  to  follow.  One  of  the  prisoners  asked 
whether  he  should  bring  his  blanket.  "No," 
replied  the  officer,  in  a  jocular  tone;  "you  have 
no  more  need  for  a  blanket  in  this  world." 

On  reaching  the  door,  the  soldiers  separated, 
received  the  prisoners  in  their  midst,  closed  up, 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  121 

and  marching  them  across  the  railroad,  shot 
them.  As  the  officers  passed  Captain  Bruce, 
he  asked  where  the  prisoners  were  going. 
They  replied,  "Going  to  be  shot!"  and  showed 
him  the  warrant  for  their  execution,  having 
written  across  it,  in  red  letters,  "Condemned  to 
death  r 

Thus  was-  perpetrated  an  act  of  cruel 
tyranny,  which  cries  loudly  to  Heaven  for  ven 
geance.  Two  families,  helpless  and  destitute, 
were  thus  each  deprived  of  its  head,  on  whom 
they  were  dependent  for  support,  and  aban 
doned  to  the  cold  charity  of  a  selfish  world. 
The  wages  they  earned  by  a  year's  faithful  ser 
vice  in  behalf  of  the  wicked,  cruel,  and  vindic 
tive  Confederate  States,  was  an  ignominious 
death  and  a  dishonoured  grave.  Will  not  God 
visit  for  this?  The  widow  and  the  fatherless 
cry  to  Heaven  for  vengeance,  and  their  cries 
have  entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of 
Sabaoth. 

On  Tuesday  morning,  six  young  men,  who 
had  been  arrested  for  their  Union  sentiments, 
resolved  to  escape.     Their  plan  was  to  enlist  in 
11 


122 

the  Confederate  service,  then  to  desert  on  the 
first  opportunity,  and  make  their  way  to  the 
Federal  lines.  They  consulted  me  as  to  the 
propriety  of  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance 
under  these  circumstances.  Such  a  step  would 
give  them  another  chance  for  life;  but  were 
they  to  profess  adherence  to  their  Union  princi 
ples,  they  had  no  hope  of  living  many  days. 
If  permitted  to  enlist,  they  thought  there  was 
little  doubt  of  their  escape  in  a  few  days ;  and 
should  a  battle  take  place,  no  Federal  soldiers 
would  be  injured  by  them,  and  an  opportunity 
to  desert  might  occur  during  the  engagement. 
I  drew  up  a  paper  for  them,  requesting  permis 
sion  to  enlist  in  a  company  which  they  speci 
fied.  Their  petition  was  granted  by  the  autho 
rities,  and  they  were  removed  from  prison  to 
the  camp.  I  feel  confident  that  ere  this,  they 
are  safe  in  the  Federal  lines,  for  they  knew  the 
whole  country,  so  as  to  be  able  to  travel  by 
night  or  by  day,  with  little  danger  of  detection. 
They  had  all  been  arrested  at  their  homes  by 
the  Kebel  cavalry.  They  were  bitter  in  senti- 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  123 

ment  against  the  military  usurpation,  self- 
styled  the  Confederate  States  of  America. 

This  (Tuesday)  evening,  Colonel  Walter 
called  again,  to  give  me  a  copy  of  the  charges 
against  me.  He  informed  me  that  my  trial 
had  been  deferred  till  Monday,  the  15th  inst. 
He  also  informed  me  in  advance,  that  I  must 
die,  and  that,  doubtless,  on  the  day  after  the 
trial.  I  asked  and  obtained  permission  to  send 
for  the  Kev.  Dr.  Lyon;  of  Columbus,  Missis 
sippi,  to  be  present  at  iny  execution.  Dr.  Lyon 
and  I  were  co-presbyters,  both  being  mem 
bers  of  the  Tombeckbee  Presbytery.  Colonel 
Walter  was  a  renegade  Yankee.  Coming  from 
Michigan  to  Mississippi,  he  married  the  daugh 
ter  of  a  wealthy  slave-holder.  Obtaining 
through  her  the  control  of  a  large  number  of 
slaves,  he  became  a  very  ultra  advocate  of  the 
peculiar  institution,  and  a  rabid  secessionist. 

Soon  after  Colonel  Walter  left,  Colonel  Ware 
came  in,  and  asked  me  if  I  had  been  President 
of  a  Female  College  in  Eienzi.  I  replied  in 
the  affirmative.  'Tis  strange^  said  he,  that  one 
who  has  been  so  favoured,  and  one  who  has 


124  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

accumulated  property  in  the  South,  should 
prove  a  traitor  to  the  land  of  his  adoption,  and 
side  with  his  enemies.  I  replied  that  I  had 
given  a  fair  equivalent  for  every  dollar  I  had 
obtained  from  the  citizens  of  the  South;  that 
for  eleven  years  I  had  laboured  faithfully  as  a 
teacher  and  minister  of  the  gospel  to  promote 
the  educational  and  spiritual  interests  of  the 
Southern  people ;  and  that  now  I  was  receiving 
my  reward  in  being  chained,  starved,  and  in 
sulted  ;  and  that  they  intended  soon  to  pay  the 
last  instalment  by  putting  me  to  death  igno- 
miniously  on  the  scaffold;  I  also  denied  being 
an  enemy  to  the  South.  I  regarded  those  who 
imperilled  all  her  best  interests,  and  plunged 
her  into  a  protracted  and  desolating  war,  as  the 
real  enemies  of  the  South.  If  my  advice  had 
been  followed,  the  South  and  the  whole  coun 
try  would  now  be  enjoying  its  wonted  peace 
and  prosperity.  He  only  replied  with  cursing 
and  vituperation. 

Believing  my  end  to  be  near,  I  sat  down 
upon  the  floor  o£  my  dungeon,  and  penned  the 
following  letter  to  my  wife. 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  125 

TUPELO  MILITARY  DUNGEON,  July  10th,  1862. 

MY  DEAR  MARY— The  Confederate  authori 
ties  announce  to  me  that  I  have  only  a  few  more 
days  to  live.  When  you  receive  this  letter,  the 
hand  that  penned  it  will  be  cold  in  death.  My 
soul  will  have  passed  the  solemn  test  before 
the  bar  of  God ;  I  have  a  good  hope  through 
grace  that  I  will  be  then  rejoicing  amid  the 
sacramental  host  of  God's  elect,  singing  the 
new  song  of  redeeming  love  in  the  presence 
of  Him  who  is  the  Chief  among  ten  thou 
sand,  and  the  one  altogether  lovely.  Mary, 
meet  me  in  heaven,  where  sorrow,  and  crying, 
and  sin  are  not  known,  and  where  the  wicked 
cease  from  troubling,  and  the  weary  are  at 
rest.  I  will  request  your  brother  Ramsey,  and 
cousin,  Captain  Tankersley,  to  convey  my  body 
to  you.  Bury  me  in  the  graveyard  at  Beth 
any.  Plant  an  evergreen — a  cedar — at  my 
head,  and  one  at  my  feet,  and  there  let  me 
repose  in  peace,  till  the  Archangel's  trump 
shall  sound,  calling  the  dead  to  the  judgment 
of  the  great  day,  and  vouchsafing  to  saints  the 
long  wished-for  "  redemption  of  the  body." 


126  THE  IKON   FUKNACE;    OB 

As  to  my  property,  it  has  all  been  confis 
cated  ;  and  after  years  of  incessant  toil,  I  leave 
you  penniless  and  dependent;  but  trust  in  God. 
To  his  protecting  care  I  commit  you  and  our 
dear  little  Kate,  who  has  promised  that  he  will 
be  the  widow's  husband,  and  the  father  of  the 
fatherless.  Best  assured,  the  Lord  will  provide. 
Only  trust  in  him,  and  love  him  with  your 
whole  heart,  and  soul,  and  mind,  and  strength. 
"I  know  that  it  shall  be  well  with  those  that 
love  God."  Be  not  faithless,  but  believing,  and 
though  clouds  and  thick  darkness  surround  you 
at  present,  a  more  auspicious  day  will  dawn, 
and  God  will  bring  you  safely  to  your  jour 
ney's  end,  and  our  reunion  in  heaven  will  be 
sweet. 

Our  dear  little  daughter,  Kate,  bring  up  in 
the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  Teach 
her  to  walk  in  wisdom's  ways,  for  her  ways  are 
ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths  are 
peace.  Her  mind  may  be  compared  to  wax,  in ' 
its  susceptibility  for  receiving  impressions,  and 
to  marble,  for  its  power  of  retaining  those 
impressions.  0  that  she  may  be  satisfied  early 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  127 

with  the  mercy  of  God,  that  she  may  rejoice 
and  be  glad  all  her  days !  Teach  her  to  remem 
ber  her  Creator  in  the  days  of  her  youth,  before 
the  evil  days  come,  in  which  she  shall  say,  I 
have  no  pleasure  in  them.  Make  the  Bible  her 
constant  study,  and  let  its  words  be  as  house 
hold  words  to  her.  Inspire  her  mind  with  a 
reverence  for  the  Book  which  is  able  to  make 
wise  unto  salvation.  See  to  it  that  the  words 
of  Christ  dwell  richly  in  her  soul,  that  she  may 
be  filled  with  wisdom,  and  knowledge,  and 
spiritual  understanding.  Pray  for  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  bless  your  labours  and  instructions, 
without  which  all  your  efforts  would  be  in 
vain,  and  pray  that  the  Third  Person  of  the 
adorable  Trinity  may  take  up  his  abode  in 
her  heart,  and  dwell  with  her  for  ever. 

As  my  duties  in  regard  to  instructing  our 
child,  will  devolve  solely  on  you,  take  for  your 
guidance,  in  this  respect,  Deut.  vi.  5 — 9.  Let 
your  example  be  such  as  you  would  wish  her 
to  follow.  Children  are  much  more  inclined  to 
follow  example  than  precept.  Exercise  care  in 


128  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

this  respect,  for,  "  as  is  the  mother,   so  is  her 
daughter." 

I  regret  my  family  will,  from  the  force  of 
circumstances,  be  compelled  to  remain  in  a  land 
where  my  death  will  be  considered  disgraceful, 
but  it  cannot  be  avoided.  The  time  may  come 
when,  even  in  Mississippi,  I  may  be  regarded 
as  a  patriot  martyr.  My  conscience  is  void  of 
offence,  as  regards  the  guilt  attached  to  the 
charges  made  against  me.  I  am  charged  with 
treason  against  the  Confederate  States.  The 
charge  and  the  specifications  are  true,  except 
that  I  was  not  a  Federal  agent  in  the  purchase 
of  cotton.  That  was  a  private  arrangement 
altogether.  I  am  also  charged  with  acting  as 
a  spy.  The  specifications  under  this  charge  are 
false.  I  think  that  this  accusation  was  made  to 
prevent  retaliation  by  the  Federal  generals ; 
and  in  the  Kebel  army  they  are  not  at  a  loss  to 
prove  any  charge,  however  false.  Ferdinand 
Woodruff  is  their  tool  to  prove  me  a  spy, 
and  he  will  do  it,  though  he  knows  his  testi 
mony  to  be  as  false  as  that  of  the  suborned 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  129 

witnesses    who    bore    testimony    against    the 
Saviour. 

How  long  shall  the  wicked  triumph  ?  How 
long  will  God  forbear  to  execute  that  ven 
geance  which  is  his,  and  which  he  will  repay 
sooner  or  later!  I  feel  confident  that  the  right 
cause  will  prevail,  and  though  I  will  not  live 
to  see  it,  for  my  days  are  numbered,  yet  I 
firmly  believe  that  the  rebel  power  will  be 
destroyed  utterly. 

"  Truth,  crushed  to  earth,  will  rise  again ; 

The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers ; 
But  error,  wounded,  writhes  in  pain, 
And  dies  amid  her  worshippers." 

I  write  this  letter  amid  the  din  and  confusion 
incident  to  a  large  number  of  men  crowded 
into  a  narrow  compass,  and  free  from  all 
restraint.  This  letter  will  be  transmitted  to 
you  by  friends.  The  names  of  those  friends 
you  will  know  hereafter.  They  will  present 
your  case  to  General  Eosecrans  or  Nelson, 
who  may  obtain  a  pension  for  you.  My  ser 
vices  heretofore  in  the  Union  cause  are  known 
to  them,  and  I  think  they  will  see  that  you 


130  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

do  not  suffer;  all  my  real  estate  will  be  res 
tored  to  you  if  the  Union  cause  triumphs,  and 
I  think  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  its  success. 
Give  my  love  to  all  my  friends.  Kemember 
that  I  have  prayed  for  you  unceasingly  during 
my  imprisonment,  and  my  last  utterances  on 
earth  will  be  prayers  for  your  welfare. 

Farewell.  God  bless  you,  and  preserve  you 
and  our  dear  little  Kate. 

Your  affectionate  husband, 

JOHN  H.  AUGHEY. 

I  next  wrote  my  obituary,  which  I  placed  in 
the  hands  of  a  Union  soldier  who  expected 
soon  to  be  exchanged.  By  him  it  was  to  be 
sent  to  the  editors  of  The  Presbyterian,  pub 
lished  in  Philadelphia,  with  a  request  that  it 
should  appear  in  their  columns. 

OBITUARY. 

Died,  in  Tupelo,  Ittawamba  county,  Missis 
sippi,  July  — ,  1862,  the  Kev.  John  II.  Aughey. 
The  subject  of  the  above  notice  was  executed 
on  the  gallows,  by  authority  of  the  Confederate 
States,  on  the  charges  of  treason  and  acting  as 
a  spy. 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  131 

John  H.  Aughey  was  born  in  New  Hartford, 
Oneida  county,  New  York,  May  8th,  1828; 
removed  with  his  parents  to  Steubenville,  Ohio, 
in  1837 ;  is  an  alumnus  of  Franklin  College, 
New  Athens,  Harrison  county,  Ohio;  studied 
theology  in  Memphis,  Tennessee,  under  the 
Eev.  John  H.  Gray,  D.  D.,  President  of  Mem 
phis  Synodical  College — also  under  the  care  of 
the  Eev.  S.  I.  Keid  of  Holly  Springs,  Missis 
sippi  ;  was  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Chickasaw,  October  4th,  1856; 
was  ordained  to  the  full  work  of  the  gospel 
ministry  by  the  Presbytery  of  Tombeckbee,  at 
its  session  in  Winston  county,  Mississippi,  in 
April,  1861.  God  blessed  his  labours  by  giv 
ing  him  many  seals  to  his  ministry.  After 
labouring  eleven  years  in  the  South  as  a 
teacher  and  minister  of  the  gospel,  having 
never  injured  a  citizen  of  the  South  either  in 
person  or  property,  he  suffered  a  felon's  death 
for  attachment  to  the  Federal  Union,  because 
he  would  not  turn  traitor  to  the  government 
which  had  never  in  a  single  instance  oppressed, 
but  had  always  afforded  him  protection.  He 


132  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

rests  in  peace,  and  in  the  hope  of  a  blessed 
immortality. 

"  Leaves  have  their  time  to  fall, 
And  flowers  to  wither  in  the  north  wind's  breath, 

And  stars  to  set ;  but  all — 
Thou  hast  all  seasons  for  thine  own,  0  Death!" 

ADDRESS  TO   MY  SOUL. 

0  my  soul !  thou  art  about  to  appear  in  the 
presence  of  thy  Creator,  who  is  infinite,  eternal, 
unchangeable  in  his  being,  power,  wisdom, 
holiness,  justice,  goodness,  and  truth.  He  can 
not  look  upon  sin.  He  is  a  sin-avenging  God, 
and  thou  art  stained  with  sin.  Thy  transgres 
sions  are  as  numerous  as  the  stars  of  heaven, 
and  the  sand  that  is  upon  the  sea-shore.  Thou 
art  totally  debased  by  sin,  and  thy  iniquities 
abound.  Thou  art  guilty  of  sins  of  omission 
and  of  commission.  Justice  would  consign 
thee  to  everlasting  burnings,  to  dwell  with 
devouring  fire,  even  to  everlasting  destruction 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  and  the  glory  of 
his  power.  Guilty,  helpless,  wretched  as  thou 
art,  what  is  thy  plea  why  sentence  of  eternal 
death  should  not  be  pronounced  against  thee  ? 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  133 


THE   SOUL'S   REPLY. 

I  plead  the  merits  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
whose  blood  cleanses  from  all  sin,  even  from 
sins  of  the  deepest  dye.  I  plead  the  sufferings 
of  Him  who  bore  my  sins  in  his  own  body,  on 
the  tree,  and  wrought  out  a  perfect  righteous.- 
ness,  which  I  may  obtain  by  simple  faith.  JSTo 
money,  no  price  is  demanded.  This  I  could 
not  pay,  for  all  my  righteousness  is  as  filthy 
rags,  and  I  must  perish,  were  any  part  of  the 
price  demanded.  Nothing  in  my  hand  I  bring. 
My  salvation  must  be  all  of  grace,  or  to  me  it 
would  be  hopeless.  I  trust  that  Christ  will 
clothe  me  in  the  spotless  robes  of  his  own 
righteousness,  and  present  me  faultless  before 
his  Father.  With  this  trust,  I  go  to  the 
judgment-seat,  assured  that  the  soul  which 
trusts  in  Christ  shall  never  be  put  to  shame. 
God  is  faithful  who  has  promised. 

MILITARY  DUNGEON,  Tupelo,          i 
Ittawamba  Co.,  Miss.,  July  llth,  1862.  \ 

DEAR  PARENTS— "Life  is  sweet,  and  it  is  a 
pleasant  thing  to  behold  the  sun."     "  All  that 
12 


134  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

a  man  hath,  will  he  give  for  his  life."  "Having 
promise  of  the  life  that  now  is."  "The  life  is 
more  than  meat."  "They  hunt  for  the  precious 
life."  The  above  quotations  from  the  Word 
of  Life,  show  the  high  estimate  that  is  placed 
upon  life.  My  life  is  not  "precious"  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Secessionists,  for  their  authorities  declare 
that  "  my  chances  for  living  long  are  extremely 
slender."  "  Yet  a  few  days,  and  me  the  all- 
beholding  sun  shall  see  no  more  in  all  his 
course."  Mourn  not  for  me,  my  dear  parents, 
as  those  who  have  no  hope.  "  For  me  to  live, 
is  Christ ;  but  to  die,  is  gain."  I  fear  not  those 
who,  when  they  have  killed  the  body,  have  no 
more  that  they  can  do.  But  I  fear  Him  whose 
fear  casteth  out  every  other  fear.  When  these 
lines  are  read  by  you,  their  author  will  be  an 
inhabitant  of  the  Celestial  City,  the  New  Jeru 
salem,  and  will  be  reposing  in  Abraham's 
bosom,  in  the  midst  of  the  Paradise  of  God. 
Next  to  God,  my  thanks  are  due  to  you,  for 
guiding  my  infant  feet  in  the  paths  of  wisdom 
and  virtue.  In  riper  years,  by  precept,  I  have 
been  warned  and  instructed.  By  example  I 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  135 

have  been  led,  until  my  habits  were  fixed,  and 
then,  accompanied  by  your  parental  blessing,  I 
sought  a  distant  home,  to  engage  in  the  ardu 
ous  duties  of  life.  Whatever  success  I  have 
met  with,  whatever  influence  for  good  I  may 
have  exerted,  are  all  due  to  your  pious  training. 
I  owe  you  a  debt  of  gratitude  which  I  can 
never  repay.  Though  I  cannot,  God  will  grant 
you  a  reward  lasting^  as  eternity.  It  will  add 
to  that  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory 
which  will  be  conferred  on  you  in  that  day 
when  the  heavens  shall  be  dissolved,  and  the 
elements  melt  with  fervent  heat.  I  die  for  my 
loyalty  to  the  Federal  Government.  I  know 
that  you  would  not  have  me  turn  traitor  to 
save  my  life.  Life  is  precious,  but  death,  even 
death  on  the  scaffold,  is  preferable  to  dishonour. 
Kemember  me  kindly  to  all  my  friends.  Tell 
sisters  Sallie,  Mary,  and  Emma,  to  meet  me  in 
heaven.  I  know  that  my  Eedeemer  liveth. 
Dying  is  but  going  home.  I  have  taught  many 
how  to  live,  and  now  I  am  called  to  teach  them 
how  to  die.  May  God  grant  that  as  my  day  is, 
so  may  my  strength  be,  and  that,  in  my  last 


136  THE   IRON   FURNACE:    OR 


moments,  I  may  not  bring  dishonour  upon  my 
Master's  cause,  but  may  glorify  him  in  the 
fires! 

My  dear  parents,  farewell  till  we  meet 
beyond  the  river. 

Your  affectionate  son, 

JOHN  H.  AUGHEY. 

To  DAVID  and  ELIZABETH  AUGHEY, 
Amsterdam,  Jefferson  Co.,  Ohio. 

The  following  letter  was  written  to  the  Hon. 
William  H.  Seward  in  behalf  of  the  Union  men 
in  prison  and  within  the  rebel  lines. 

CENTRAL  MILITARY  PRISON,  Tupelo,          ~| 
Ittawamba  Co.,  Mississippi,  July  llth,  1862.  J 

Hon.  William  H.  Seward: 

DEAR  SIR — A  large  number  of  citizens  of 
Mississippi,  holding  Union  sentiments,  and  who 
recognise  no  such  military  usurpation  as  the 
so-called  Confederate  States  of  America,  are 
confined  in  a  filthy  prison,  swarming  with  ver 
min,  and  are  famishing  from  hunger — a  suffi 
cient  quantity  of  food  not  being  furnished  us. 
We  are  separated  from  our  families,  and  suf 
fered  to  hold  no  communication  with  them. 


SLAVERY   AND   SECESSION.  137 

We  are  compelled,  under  a  strong  guard,  to 
perform  the  most  menial  services,  and  are 
insulted  on  every  occasion  by  the  officers  and 
guards  of  the  prison.  The  nights  are  very 
cool;  we  are  furnished  with  no  bedding, 
and  are  compelled  to  lie  down  on  the  floor  of 
our  dungeon,  where  sleep  seldom  visits  us,  until 
exhausted  nature  can  hold  out  no  longer ;  then 
our  slumbers  are  broken,  restless,  and  of  short 
duration.  Our  property  is  confiscated,  and  our 
families  left  destitute  of  the  necessaries  of  life ; 
all  that  they  have,  yea,  all  their  living,  being 
seized  upon  by  the  Confederates,  and  converted 
to  their  own  use.  Heavy  fetters  are  placed 
upon  our  limbs,  and  daily  some  of  us  are  led 
to  the  scaffold,  or  to  death  by  shooting.  Many 
of  us  are  forced  into  the  army,  instant  death 
being  the  penalty  in  case  of  refusal ;  thus  con 
straining  us  to  bear  arms  against  our  country, 
to  become  the  executioners  of  our  friends  and 
brethren,  or  to  fall  ourselves  by  their  hands. 

These  evila  are  intolerable,  and  we  ask  pro 
tection,  through  you,  from  the  United  States 
Government.      The  Federal  Government  may 
12* 


138  THE  IKON  FURNACE;   OR 


not  be  able  to  release  us,  but  we  ask  the  pro 
tection  which  the  Federal  prisoner  receives. 
Were  his  life  taken,  swift  retribution  would  be 
visited  upon  the  rebels  by  a  just  retaliation — a 
rebel  prisoner  would  suffer  death  for  every 
Federal  prisoner  whom  they  destroyed.  Let 
this  rule  hold  good  in  the  case  of  Union  men 
who  are  citizens  of  the  South.  The  loyal  Mis- 
sissippian  deserves  protection  as  much  as  the 
loyal  native  of  Massachusetts.  We  ask,  also, 
that  our  confiscated  property  be  restored  to  us, 
or,  in  case  of  our  death,  to  our  families.  If  it 
be  destroyed;  let  reparation  be  demanded  from 
the  rebels,  or  the  property  of  known  and 
avowed  secessionists  sequestered  to  that  use. 

Before  this  letter  reaches  its  destination,  the 
majority  of  us  will  have  ceased  to  be.  The 
writer  has  been  informed  by  the  officers  that 
"his  chances  for  living  long  are  very  slender;" 
that  he  has  confessed  enough  to  cause  him  to 
lose  his  life,  and  the  Judge  Advocate  has  speci 
fied  Tuesday,  the  15th  inst.,  as  the  day  of  his 
execution.  We  have,  therefore,  little  hope  that 
we,  individually,  can  receive  any  benefit  from 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  139 

this  petition,  though  you  regard  it  favourably, 
and  consent  to  its  suggestions;  but  our  fami 
lies,  who  have  been  so  cruelly  robbed  of  all 
their  substance,  may,  in  after  time,  receive 
remuneration  for  their  great  losses.  And  if 
citizens  of  avowed  secession  proclivities,  who 
are  within  -the  Federal  lines,  are  arrested  and 
held  as  hostages  for  the  safety  of  Union  men 
who  are  and  may  be  hereafter  incarcerated  in 
the  prison  in  Tupelo  and  elsewhere,  the  rebels 
will  not  dare  put  another  Union  man  to  death. 
Hoping  that  you  will  deem  it  proper  to  take 
the  matters  presented  in  our  petition  under 
advisement,  we  remain,  with  high  considera 
tions  of  respect  and  esteem,  your  oppressed  and 
imprisoned  fellow-citizens, 

JOHN  H.  AUGHEY, 
BENJAMIN  CLAKKE, 
JOHN  EOBINSON, 
and  thirty-seven  others. 

Two  young  men  informed  me  to-day  that 
they  had  been  forced  into  the  rebel  service. 
They  had  been  taken  prisoners  at  Corinth  by 
General  Pope,  and  had  taken  the  oath  of  alle- 


140  THE  IKON  FURNACE;  OR 

glance  to  the  Federal  Government,  to  which 
their  hearts  had  always  been  loyal.  Kecently 
they  had  been  arrested,  and  on  refusing  to  re 
join  their  regiment,  were  immured  in  this  dun 
geon.  From  the  threats  of  the  officers,  they 
expected  to  be  shot  at  any  moment.  They  had 
used  every  means  to  banish  the  thoughts  of 
death  —  had  forced  themselves  to  engage  in 
pleasantry  and  mirth  to  drive  away  the  sad 
ness  and  gloom  which  oppressed  them  when 
alone,  and  recalled  the  pleasures  of  their  happy 
homes — homes  which  they  would  never  see 
again.  I  counselled  them  to  prepare  to  meet 
their  God  in  peace ;  to  wisely  improve  the  short 
time  granted  them  to  make  their  calling  and 
election  sure.  They  replied  that  they  hoped 
all  would  be  well.  They  had  long  since  con 
fessed  Christ  before  men,  and  hoped  for  sal 
vation  through  his  merits.  Still,  they  could 
not  help  feeling  sad  in  the  near  prospect  of 
death.  They  left  me  to  mingle  with  a  group 
of  prisoners,  who  were  endeavouring  to  dissi 
pate  the  tedium,  and  vary  the  monotonous 
routine  of  prison  life,  by  "  telling  stories."  Cap- 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  141 

tain  Bruce  led  off  by  telling  the  following  Irish 
story : 

"Once  upon  a  time,  an  Irishman,  who  re 
joiced  in  the  possession  of  a  fine  mare  and  a  colt, 
wished  to  cross  the  Mississippi  river  at  Baton 
Rouge  with  them.  By  some  mishap,  they  were 
all  precipitated  from  the  ferry-boat  into  the 
water.  The  Irishman,  being  unable  to  swim, 
grasped  the  colt's  tail,  hoping  thus  to  be  car 
ried  to  the  shore.  Some  of  the  passengers 
called  out  to  him:  'Halloo,  Pat,  why  don't 
you  take  hold  of  the  mare's  tail ;  she  is  much 
stronger,  and  much  more  able  to  carry  you 
safely  to  the  shore.'  '0,  be  jabers!'  says  Pat, 
'  this  is  no  time  for  swapping  horses.' "  This 
tale  was  received  with  applause. 

Baltimore  Bill,  a  real  Plug-ugly,  told  his 
story  next,  as  follows:  "Two  Irishmen,  imme 
diately  after  their  arrival  in  America,  found  a 
gun.  After  long  inspection,  they  concluded 
it  was  some  kind  of  musical  instrument,  and 
wishing  to  hear  the  music,  it  was  agreed  that 
Jimmie  should  blow  at  the  muzzle,  while  Pat 
worked  with  the  'fixins'at  the  breech.  At  it 


142  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

they  went.  Soon  the  gun  went  off,  and  Jim- 
mie  fell  down,  shot  dead.  'Och!'  says  Pat,  'are 
you  charmed  at  the  first  note?'"  This  story 
was  received  with  loud  bursts  of  laughter.  An 
officer  then  entered,  and  ordered  us  to  be  quiet, 
forbidding  us  to  narrate  any  more  tales. 


SLAVEKY  AND   SECESSION.  143 


CHAPTEK    Y. 

EXECUTION  OF  UNION  PRISONERS. 

Resolved  to  Escape — Mode  of  Executing  Prisoners — Re 
moval  of  Chain — Addition  to  our  Numbers — Two  Priso 
ners  become  Insane — Plan  of  Escape — Proves  a  Failure — 
Fetters  Inspected — Additional  Fetters  —  Handcuffs — A 
Spy  in  the  Disguise  of  a  Prisoner — Special  Police  Guard 
on  Duty — A  Prisoner's  Discovery — Divine  Services — The 
General  Judgment — The  Judge — The  Laws — The  Wit 
nesses — The  Concourse — The  Sentence. 

ON  Friday  morning,  the  twelfth  of  July,  as 
I  "lay  restless  and  sore,  endeavouring  to  find 
some  position  which  would  be  sufficiently  easy 
to  permit  me  to  enjoy,  even  for  a  few  moments, 
the  benefit  of  "  Tired  nature's  sweet  restorer, 
balmy  sleep,"  the  thought  occurred  that  it 
would  be  well  to  attempt  an  escape,  though  it 
should  result  in  death  from  the  fire  of  the 
guards,  which  would  be  far  preferable  to  death 
by  strangling  at  the  rope's  end,  and  in  the 
presence  of  a  large  concourse  of  rebel  enemies. 
Their  method  of  shooting  was,  to  dig  a  hole, 


144  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

and  make  the  victim  sit  with  his  legs  hanging 
in  it.  The  soldiers  would  fire  three  balls 
through  the  brain,  and  three  through  the  heart ; 
then  the  mangled  and  bleeding  body  fell  into 
the  grave,  and  was  immediately  covered  with 
earth.  At  first,  coffins  were  used,  but  of  late, 
these  had  been  dispensed  with,  owing  to  the 
increased  expense,  and  the  increasing  number 
of  executions. 

I  had  not  long  meditated  upon  this  subject, 
when  I  arose,  fully  resolved  011  death  or 
liberty.  My  intentions  were  communicated  to 
several  prisoners,  who  promised  me  all  the  aid 
in  their  power.  My  fetters  were  examined, 
and  it  was  concluded,  that  with  proper  instru 
ments  my  bands  could  be  divested  of  the  iron 
which  secured  the  chain-rings.  A  long-handled 
iron  spoon,  a  knife,  and  an  old  file,  were 
obtained,  and  two  were  detached  at  a  time  to 
work  on  my  fetters.  We  went  to  one  side 
of  the  building,  and  a  sufficient  number  of 
prisoners  stood  in  front  of  us,  to  prevent  the 
guard  from  noticing  our  proceedings.  Our 
locations  were  changed  frequently,  to  prevent 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  145 

detection ;  and  when  an  officer  entered,  labour 
was  suspended  till  his  exit. 

We  called  General  Bragg,  Robespierre; 
General  Jordan,  Marat;  and  General  Hardee, 
Danton.  Several  prisoners  were  led  out  and 
shot  to-day.  The  majority  of  them  were  Union 
men.  Six  Union  men  were  committed  to  jail 
to-day.  The  horrors  of  our  situation  were  suf 
ficient  to  render  two  of  these  victims  insane. 
A  reign  of  terror  had  been  inaugurated,  only 
equalled,  in  its  appalling  enormity,  by  the 
memorable  French  Revolution.  Spies  and 
informers,  in  the  pay  of  the  Rebel  govern 
ment,  prowl  through  the  country,  using  every 
artifice  and  strategy  to  lead  Union  men  to 
criminate  themselves,  after  which  they  are 
dragged  to  prison  and  to  death.  The  cavalry 
dash  through  the  country,  burning  cotton,  car 
rying  off  the  property  of  loyal  citizens,  and 
committing  depredations  of  every  kind. 

Several   prisoners    resolved   to   attempt    an 

escape  with  me.     Our  plan  was,  to  bring  in 

the  axe  with  which  we  split  wood  for  cooking, 

and   raise  a   plank   in   the   floor,    a   sufficient 

13 


146  THE   IRON    FURNACE;    OR 

number  to  stand  around  those  who  lifted  it,  to 
prevent  observation,  and  then  make  our  way 
out  among  the  guards,  who  were  off  duty  on 
the  north  side  of  the  building.  At  this  time 
there  were  three  guards  in  front  of  each  door, 
and  two  on  the  south  side  of  the  building.  On 
the  north  side  of  the  building,  there  were  no 
guards  on  duty,  for,  if  the  other  three  sides 
were  securely  guarded,  the  prisoners  could  not 
escape  on  the  north  side.  There  were,  how 
ever,  several  hundred  guards,  who,  when  off 
duty,  slept  on  this  side  of  the  prison.  "When 
their  turn  came,  they  went  on  duty ;  and  those 
who  were  relieved,  came  there  to  sleep.  They 
were  coming  and  going  all  the  time,  and  during 
the  whole  night,  they  kept  up  an  incessant 
noise. 

After  the  unremitting  labour  of  my  friends 
during  the  day,  I  found  that  I  could  slip 
my  chain  off  and  on  at  pleasure.  The  sun 
was  now  setting,  but  the  axe  had  not  been 
brought  in.  At  this  time  a  guard  was  sta 
tioned  in  each  door;  the  favourable  moment 
had  passed ;  none  dared  to  bring  the  axe  past 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  147 

the  guard.  While  deliberating  on  the  best 
course  to  pursue — as  raising  a  plank  had 
proved  a  failure  for  the  present — General  Jor 
dan  and  Colonel  Clare  entered.  I  was  standing 
with  others  in  the  middle  of  the  floor.  General 
Jordan  came  directly  to  me ;  either  accidentally 
or  intentionally,  he  held  up  a  light  to  my  face. 
"Ah!  you  are  here  yet,"  said  he.  I  gave  an 
affirmative  nod.  "Well,"  said  he  to  Colonel 
Clare,  "I  must  examine  this  fellow's  irons.'! 
Putting  his  hand  down,  and  ascertaining  that 
they  had  been  tampered  with,  he  endeavoured, 
ineffectually,  to  pull  the  bands  off;  he  did  not 
notice  that  I  could  slip  the  chain-rings  off. 
"These  irons,"  said  he,  "are  very  insecure; 
who  helped  you  to  put  them  in  this  condition?" 
I  made  no  reply.  After  waiting  until  he  found 
I  intended  none,  he  continued :  "  Colonel  Clare, 
have  these  irons  secured  in  the  morning;  also 
put  handcuffs  on  him,  and  chain  him,  so  as 
to  confine  him  to  one  locality;  the  gallows 
shall  not  be  cheated  of  their  due."  Having 
given  these  orders,  they  passed  out.  As  soon 
as  they  were  gone,  the  prisoners  who  had  aided 


148  THE  IKON  FURNACE;  OR 

me  crowded  around,  stating  that  they  believed 
there  was  a  spy  in  the  house,  in  the  guise 
of  a  prisoner,  and  declaring  that  I  must  escape 
that  night,  or  it  would  be  too  late.  All  real 
ized  that  on  to-morrow  there  would  be  no 
hope. 

There  were  eleven  guards  on  duty — three  in 
front  of  each  door,  one  in  each  door,  two  on 
the  south  side  of  the  building,  and  at  night 
one  passing  back  and  forth  through  the  centre 
of  the  prison,  which  was  lighted  during  the 
whole  night.  There  was  also  a  special  police 
guard  on  duty  that  night,  as  five  Federal  pri 
soners,  who  remained  in  our  prison  until  some 
formalities  were  gone  through  with,  would  be 
sent  in  the  morning  to  the  prison  at  Colum 
bus,  Mississippi,  and  it  was  feared  they  might 
attempt  to  escape  ere  they  were  sent  further 
south. 

At  this  juncture,  a  young  man  ran  up  and 
informed  me  that  he  had  made  a  discovery 
which  might  result  in  my  escape ;  I  must  go 
alone,  however,  and  though  they  would  aid 
me,  they  would  run  great  risk  in  doing  so. 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  149 

Only  four  could  assist,  and  he  would  vol 
unteer  to  be  one  of  them.  Several  others 
immediately  volunteered,  of  whom  three  were 
selected  by  M ,  and  the  plan  then  commu 
nicated.  At  this  moment,  Captain  Bruce  an 
nounced  that  the  hour  for  divine  worship  had 
arrived.  I  asked  my  friends  whether  I  should 
plead  indisposition,  and  dispense  with  the  ser 
vices  for  that  time.  They  replied  that  it  might 
lead  to  suspicion,  and  advised  me  to  give  them 
a  short  sermon.  I  went  to  my  usual  place  of 
standing,  clanking  my  chains  as  heretofore.  I 
give  a  synopsis  of  the  sermon. 

The  text  was  2  Cor.  v.  10:  "We  must  all 
appear  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,  that 
every  one  may  receive  the  things  done  in  his 
body,  according  to  that  he  hath  done,  whether 
it  be  good  or  bad." 

The  doctrine  of  a  general  judgment  was 
revealed  to  mankind  at  a  very  early  period  of 
the  world's  history.  Enoch,  the  seventh  from 
Adam,  prophesied,  saying,  "  Behold  the  Lord 
cometh  with  ten  thousand  of  his  saints,  to 
execute  judgment  upon  all,  and  to  convince  all 


150  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

that  are  ungodly  among  them  of  all  their 
ungodly  deeds  which  they  have  ungodly  com 
mitted,  and  of  all  their  hard  speeches  which 
ungodly  sinners  have  spoken  against  him." 
Job  declares:  "I  know  that  my  Eedeemer  liv- 
eth,  and  that  he  shall  stand  at  the  latter  day 
upon  the  earth."  Daniel  also  speaks  of  a  gen 
eral  judgment:  "I  beheld  till  the  thrones  were 
cast  down,  and  the  Ancient  of  days  did  sit, 
whose  garment  was  white  as  snow,  and  the  hair 
of  his  head  like  the  pure  wool :  his  throne  was 
like  the  fiery  flame,  and  his  wheels  as  burning 
fire.  A  fiery  stream  issued  and  came  forth 
from  before  him:  thousand  thousands  minis 
tered  unto  him,  and  ten  thousand  times  ten 
thousand  stood  before  him :  the  judgment  was 
set,  and  the  books  were  opened."  The  New 
Testament  is  also  explicit  in  its  declarations 
that  God  hath  appointed  a  day  in  which  he 
will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by  that 
man  whom  he  hath  ordained.  The  text 
declares  that  we  must  all  appear  before  the 
judgment-seat  of  Christ. 

The  scenes  which  will  usher  in  the  judgment 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  151 

of  the  great  day  will  be  of  the  most  magnificent 
character.  "The  heavens  shall  pass  away  with 
a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with 
fervent  heat ;  the  earth  also,  and  the  works  that 
are  therein,  shall  be  burned  up."  This  does  not 
indicate  annihilation.  God  will  never  annihi 
late  any  of  his  creatures,  animate  or  inanimate. 
The  inquiry  is  often  made,  what  becomes  of 
the  soul  after  death,  and  where  does  it  await 
the  general  judgment  ?  A  sect  called  the  Soul- 
sleepers,  take  the  position  that  the  soul,  after 
death,  goes  into  a  torpid  state,  like  bears  in 
winter,  and  thus  remains  till  the  sounding  of 
the  Archangel's  trump.  There  is  no  Scripture 
to  sustain  this  view,  and  it  is  only  assumed,  to 
avoid  the  objection  that  God  would  not  judge 
a  soul,  and  send  it  to  reward  or  punishment, 
and  then  bring  it  back,  to  be  again  judged. 
That  the  soul,  at  death,  passes  immediately 
into  glory  or  torment,  is  proved  by  many 
scriptures.  Paul  "desired  to  depart,  and  be 
with  Christ,  which  was  far  better,"  than  re 
maining  on  earth.  He  declares  that  to  be 
present  with  the  body,  is  to  be  absent  from 


152  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

the  Lord.  The  dying  Stephen  calls  upon 
the  Lord  Jesus  to  receive  his  spirit.  These 
holy  men  would  not  thus  have  spoken,  if  they 
supposed  that  ages  must  elapse  ere  they  entered 
heaven.  God  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead  or 
torpid,  but  of  the  living.  Moses  and  Elias 
appeared  on  the  mount  of  transfiguration  in 
a  state  far  from  torpidity.  The  dying  thief 
received  the  promise,  "  This  day  shalt  thou  be 
with  me  in  paradise."  No  mention  is  made  of 
Purgatory  or  torpidity.  The  objector  urges 
that  paradise  is  not  heaven.  We  are  told  that 
the  river  of  life  flows  from  the  throne  of  God, 
that  the  tree  of  life  grows  on  both  sides  of 
the  river,  and  that  the  tree  of  life  grows  in 
the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  God.  The  para 
dise  of  God  is  where  he  is  seated  on  his  throne, 
which  is  heaven.  Paradise  is  where  Christ  is. 
The  thief  would  be  with  Christ  in  paradise. 
He  who  regards  the  Lord  Jesus  as  the  Chief 
among  ten  thousand,  the  One  altogether  lovely, 
will  deem  his  presence  heaven  indeed.  As  to 
the  wicked,  it  is  said  of  the  rich  man,  that  in 
hell  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  being  in  torment.  If, 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  153 

after  being  judged,  the  souls  of  belie vers,  do 
pass  immediately  into  glory,  and  the  wicked 
into  torment,  what  use  is  there  of  another  or 
general  judgment.  I  reply,  We  are  responsi 
ble  not  only  for  our  acts,  but  for  the  influence 
which  those  acts  exert  through  all  time.  Gib 
bon,  Hume,  Eosseau,  Paine,  and  other  infidel 
writers,  wrote  works  which,  during  the  life  of 
the  authors,  did  great  evil.  If  those  wicked 
men  passed  away  from  earth  impenitent,  they 
are  now  suffering  the  vengeance  of  eternal  fire. 
But  the  influence  for  evil,  of  those  wicked 
works,  did  not  cease  with  the  death  of  their 
authors.  Thousands  of  young  men  every  year 
are  led  into  pernicious  and  hurtful  errors  by 
their  perusal.  At  the  general  judgment,  the 
accumulated  guilt,  for  the  baleful  influence 
exerted  through  their  writings  in  all  time,  will 
sink  them  deeper  in  the  flames  of  perdition. 
The  sainted  Alexander,  and  other  pious  men 
who  are  now  in  heaven,  wrote  many  works 
whose  influence  for  good  was  great  while  their 
authors  lived;  and  since  their  death  they  are, 
and  will  continue  to  be,  instrumental  in  the 


154  THE  IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

hand  of  God  in  turning  many  to  righteous 
ness.  All  the  good  accomplished  by  their 
writings,  through  all  time,  will,  at  the  judg 
ment,  add  to  their  exceeding  and  eternal  weight 
of  glory. 

In  this  life,  we  often  see  the  righteous  man 
contending  with  life's  unnumbered  woes;  all 
the  dealings  of  Providence  seem  to  be  adverse. 
While  the  wicked  are  in  great  power,  they 
flourish  in  life,  like  the  green  bay-tree,  and 
have  no  bands  in  their  death.  These  things  are 
strange  and  mysterious.  We  understand  them 
not  now;  but  we  shall  learn,  in  that  great  day, 
when  all  mysteries  are  made  plain,  that  God's 
dealings  were  just,  both  with  the  righteous  and 
the  wicked. 

The  text  declares  that  we  must  all  appear 
before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ.  This  we 
includes  all  who  are  now  within  the  sound  of 
my  voice,  and  not  only  us,  but  all  who  live 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth ;  and  the  Archan 
gel's  trump  will  wake  the  pale  nations  of  the 
dead,  and  summon  them  to  judgment.  The 
dark  domain  of  hell  will  be  vacated,  and  the 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  155 

angels  that  kept  not  their  first  estate,  and  are 
now  reserved  in  chains  of  darkness,  will  appear 
in  the  presence  of  the  Judge.  Heaven's  holy 
inhabitants  will  be  present.  Thus  heaven, 
earth,  and  hell,  will  be  represented  in  that 
august  assemblage.  The  scene  will  bear  some 
resemblance  to  that  which  takes  place  in  our 
earthly  courts.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  will  be 
the  Judge,  and  the  angels  and  saints  will  be 
the  jurors,  who  will  consent  to  and  approve  of 
the  acts  of  the  Judge.  The  angels  will  be  the 
officers  who  will  summon,  from  the  prison- 
house  of  hell,  the  devils,  to  the  trial,  and  also 
those  wicked  men  who  will  call  upon  the  rocks 
and  mountains  to  fall  upon  them,  and  hide 
them  from  the  face  of  the  Lamb.  Nor,  as  is 
so  often  the  case  with  earthly  officers,  will  any 
be  able  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  these.  They 
will  be  clothed  with  ample  power  to  compel 
the  attendance  of  .all ;  none  will  escape.  We 
must  all  appear  before  the  judgment-seat.  As 
in  earthly  courts,  law  is  the  basis  of  judgment, 
so  we  shall  be  judged  according  to  law  in  that 
day.  The  heathen  will  be  judged  by  the  law  of 


156  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

nature — the  law  written  in  their  hearts,  and  on 
their  consciences.  The  light  of  nature  teaches 
the  being,  wisdom,  power,  and  goodness  of 
God.  For  a  violation  of  this  law,  they  will 
be  beaten  with  few  stripes.  The  Jews  will  be 
judged  by  both  the  law  of  nature,  which  they 
have,  in  'common  with  the  heathen  and  the 
Mosaic  law.  But  we  who  live  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  in  the  full  blaze  of  gospel  light,  will 
be  judged  not  only  by  the  light  of  nature 
and  the  Mosaic  law,  which  we  possess  in  com 
mon  with  the  heathen  and  the  Jew,  but  also  by 
the  glorious  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  which 
brought  life  and  immortality  to  light ;  and  if 
condemned,  how  fearful  our  doom,  who  are  so 
highly  favoured!  In  earthly  courts,  we  are 
judged  for  our  overt  acts  alone;  but  in  the 
court  of  heaven,  the  commandment  is  exceed 
ing  broad;  it  reaches  every  thought.  Our 
words,  too,  are  taken  into  account.  We  must 
give  an  account  for  every  idle  word.  By  our 
words,  we  shall  be  justified,  and  by  our  words 
we  shall  be  condemned.  Our  thoughts,  our 
words,  our  deeds,  will  all  be  taken  into 
account. 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  157 

As  in  our  courts  there  are  witnesses,  so 
also  there  will  be  at  the  bar  of  God.  Our 
pious  relatives  and  friends  will  bear  this  testi 
mony,  that  they  have  prayed  with  us  and  for 
us ;  that  they  had  a  deep  concern  for  our  souls, 
and  that  we  who  are  found  on  the  left  hand 
of  the  Judge,  refused  all  their  counsel,  and 
despised  their  admonitions.  Ministers  of  the 
gospel  will  testify  that  they  came  as  ambas 
sadors  from  the  King  of  kings,  and  beseeching 
you,  in  Christ's  stead,  to  be  reconciled  to  God, 
pointing  to  the  coming  wrath,  and  warning 
you  from  that  wrath  to  flee;  and  yet  their 
labour  of  love  ye  despised,  and  scorned  the 
message  from  on  high.  The  Bible  will  be 
a  witness  against  you.  Its  teachings  are  able 
to  make  wise  unto  salvation.  It  is  the  chart 
which  is  given  to  guide  us  through  this  wilder 
ness-world,  to  fairer  worlds  on  high.  It  tells 
of  the  Lamb  of  God,  who  taketh  away  the  sin 
of  the  world.  It  is  truth  without  any  mixture 
of  error,  and  yet  you  have  despised  this  neces 
sary  revelation,  and  chosen  to  perish,  with  the 
"Word  of  Life  open  before  you.  God,  the 
14 


158 

Father,  will  be  a  swift  witness  against  you.  In 
the  greatness  of  his  love  for  you,  in  the  coun 
sels  of  eternity,  he  devised  the  plan  of  salva 
tion,  and  sent  his  only  begotten  Son  to  suffer 
and  die,  that  you  might  live,  and  yet  you  have 
despised  that  love,  and  rejected  that  Saviour. 
God,  the  Son,  will  bear  this  testimony,  that  he 
came  from  the  shining  abodes  of  glory,  where 
seraphim  and  cherubim  fell  prostrate  at  his  feet, 
in  humble  adoration,  and  emptying  himself  of 
his  glory,  bore  all  the  ills  of  life — the  persecu 
tions  of  wicked  men,  and  the  accursed  death  of 
the  cross,  that  salvation  might  be  yours,  and 
yet  ye  refused  it,  and  trod  the  blood  of  the 
Son  of  God  under  foot,  and  put  him  to  an 
open  shame.  The  Holy  Spirit,  the  Third  Per 
son  of  the  adorable  Trinity,  will  bear  witness 
that  he  often  knocked  at  the  door  of  your 
hearts  for  admittance;  that  he  wooed  you  to 
embrace  his  love,  offering  to  abide  with  you 
for  ever,  and  yet  you  rejected  the  offer,  and 
did  despite  to  the  Spirit  of  grace,  till,  in  sor 
row,  he  took  his  everlasting  flight. 

The  devil  is  now  going  about  as  a  roaring 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  159 

lion,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour,  and  some 
times  transforming  himself  into  an  angel  of 
light.  He  is  tempting  you  to  sin,  by  present 
ing  before  your  minds  the  superior  charms  of 
the  riches  and  pleasures  of  earth,  to  things  that 
are  unseen  and  eternal.  He  has  no  power  to 
compel  you  to  sin.  His  evil  suggestions  are 
whispered  in  your  oft  too  willing  ears,  and 
then  it  remains  with  you  to  accept  or  reject. 
He  has  no  power  of  compulsion.  Your  sin 
must  be  an  act  of  your  own  will,  or  it  is  not 
sin.  When  you  consent  to  the  wiles  of  this 
arch  enemy,  and  sin  against  God,  remember 
that  with  eager  desire  and  base  ingratitude  he 
will  fiercely  accuse  in  the  great  day  of  God 
Almighty,  and  urge  these  very  sins  of  his 
suggestion  as  a  reason  why  he  should  have 
you  to  torment  you  for  ever  in  the  bottomless 
pit. 

That  internal  monitor,  that  light  which  en 
lightens  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world 
• — the  moral  sense,  or  conscience — will  be  a 
swift  witness  against  you.  By  it  you  have  been 
enlightened  and  warned;  and  in  the  case  of 


160  THE  IRON   FURNACE;   OB 

many  who  have  denied  a  future  state  of  pun 
ishment,  the  goadings  of  remorse  have  con 
vinced  them  that  there  is  a  hell,  the  kindlings 
of  whose  fires  they  have  felt  in  their  own 
bosoms.  Conscience  will  compel  you  to  con 
fess  that  your  doom  is  just,  though  for  ever 
debarred  from  the  joys  and  happiness  of  hea 
ven.  O !  my  fellow-prisoners  and  travellers  to 
the  bar  of  God,  listen  to  her  warning  voice 
to-day,  before  it  be  too  late,  and  you  are  com 
pelled  mournfully  to  exclaim,  "The  harvest  is 
past,  the  summer  is  ended,  and  I  am  not 
saved !"  The  conscience  of  the  sinner  will  be 
compelled  to  admit  the  truth  of  the  testimony. 
In  earthly  courts,  oftentimes  witnesses  are 
suborned,  and  their  testimony  false.  Not  so 
at  the  grand  assize.  Not  a  scrap  of  false  testi 
mony  will  be  admitted.  The  evidence  will  be 
in  truth,  and  the  judgment  in  righteousness. 
After  all  these  scenes  have  occurred,  the 
Judge  will  render  a  verdict,  and  pronounce  the 
sentence,  which  will  be  irreversible  and  eternal. 
With  regard  to  the  righteous,  though  they 
have  been  guilty  of  many  sins,  both  of  oinis- 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  161 

sion  and  commission,  and  have  no  merits  of 
their  own  to  plead,  and  consider  themselves 
justly  obnoxious  to  eternal  banishment,  their 
Advocate,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  whom, 
while  in  the  flesh,  they  exercised  a  true  and 
living  faith,  will  now  present  them,  clad  in  the 
white  robes  of  his  perfect  righteousness,  fault 
less  before  his  Father,  and  they  will  now  hear 
the  welcome  plaudit,  "  Come  ye  blessed,  inherit 
the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  founda 
tion  of  the  world."  But  those  on  the  left  hand, 
who  all  their  life  rejected  the  mercy  offered — • 
the  great  salvation  proffered  without  money 
and  without  price — will  now  hear  the  dread 
sentence,  "  Depart,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting 
fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels !" 

0  my  dear,  impenitent  fellow-prisoners !  how 
can  ye  take  up  your  abode,  your  eternal  abode, 
in  everlasting  burnings?  How  can  ye  dwell 
with  devouring  fire?  How  can  ye  endure 
everlasting  destruction  from  the  presence  of 
the  Lord  and  the  glory  of  his  power,  shut  up 
for  ever  in  the  fearful  pit  out  of  which  there  is 
no  egress  except  for  the  vision  of  the  damned, 
14* 


162  THE  IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

and  the  smoke  of  its  torment?  Be  wise  to 
day,  'tis  madness  to  defer.  Procrastination  is 
the  thief  of  time.  Delay  is  fraught  with  awful 
danger.  Trust  not  in  promises  of  future 
amendment.  The  way  to  hell  is  paved  with 
good  resolutions,  which  are  never  kept.  The 
future  convenient  season  never  arrives.  Like 
Felix,  we  may  tremble  when  the  minister  rea 
sons  of  a  judgment  to  come;  and  like  Agrippa, 
we  may  be  almost  persuaded  to  be  a  Christian, 
and  yet  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God  through 
procrastination.  Procrastination  has  populated 
hell.  All  the  doomed  and  damned  from  Chris 
tian  lands  are  victims  of  this  pernicious  and 
destructive  wile  of  the  devil.  It  is  foolish  to 
procrastinate.  Though  the  Bible  teems  with 
rich  and  glorious  promises  of  a  hundred-fold 
blessings  in  this  life,  and  eternal  glory  in  the 
world  to  come,  to  those  who  break  off  their 
sins  by  righteousness,  and  their  transgressions 
by  turning  unto  the  Lord,  yet  all  these  pro 
mises  are  limited  to  the  present  tense.  There  is 
not  a  single  blessing  promised  the  future  peni 
tent.  He  procrastinates,  at  the  risk  of  losing 


SLAVEKY  AND   SECESSION.  163 

all.  Behold,  now  is  the  accepted  time,  and 
now  is  the  day  of  salvation.  To-day  if  ye 
will  hear  his  voice,  harden  not  your  hearts. 
"Ho,  every  one  that  thirst eth,  come  ye  to  the 
waters;  and  he  that  hath  no  money,  come  ye, 
buy  and  eat;  yea,  come  buy  wine  and  milk  with 
out  money  and  without  price."  "  Seek  ye  first 
the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness." 
"And  the  Spirit  and  the  Bride  say,  come;  let 
him  that  heareth  say,  come;  and  let  him  that  is 
athirst  come:  and  whosoever  will,  let  him  take 
the  water  of  life  freely."  v 

Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve. 
There  is  no  warrant  for  deferring  till  to-mor 
row  the  momentous  and  eternal  interests  of  the 
immortal  soul.  The  shortness  and  uncertainty 
of  life  furnish  a  strong  reason  why  we  should 
not  procrastinate.  In  the  Bible;  life  is  com 
pared  to  everything  that  is  swift,  transient,  and 
fleeting  in  its  nature.  It  is  compared  to  the 
swoop  of  the  eagle  hasting  to  the  prey ;  to  the 
swift  post,  to  the  bubble  on  the  river.  Life  is 
compared  in  its  duration  to  a  year,  a  day,  and 
to  nothing,  yea,  less  than  nothing,  and  vanity. 


164  THE   IKON   FURNACE;   OB 

All  these  comparisons  indicate  that  it  is  very 
brief  and  evanescent.  "We  have  no  lease  of 
life;  we  hold  it  by  a  very  slight  tenure;  and 
this  is  especially  true  of  us  in  our  present  con 
dition.  Confined  in  prison,  some  of  us  led  to 
death  every  day  without  a  moment's  warning, 
every  evening  I  address  some  who,  before  the 
next  evening,  are  in  eternity.  Myself  in  chains, 
my  ^  life  declared  forfeited,  ought  we  not  all  to 
be  deeply  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  imme 
diate  preparation  to  meet  our  God?  I  feel  that 
I  am  preaching  as  a  dying  man  to  dying  men, 
and  I  beseech  you  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye 
reconciled  to  God.  Believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  ye  shall  be  saved.  Trust  in  him 
for  salvation,  for  he  is  faithful  who  has  pro 
mised.  God  has  never  said  to  any,  seek  ye  my 
face  in  vain.  By  the  love  and  mercy  of  God, 
by  the  terrors  of  the  judgment,  by  the  sympa 
thy  and  compassion  of  Jesus,  I  entreat  you,  my 
fellow-prisoners,  to  seek  an  interest,  a  present 
interest,  in  the  great  salvation ! 

I  close  for  the  present.     We  shall  never  all 
engage  in   divine  service    together   again   on 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  165 

earth.  We  separate — some  to  go  to  a  distant 
prison,  and  some  to  death.  May  God  grant 
that  when  we  are  done  with  earthly  scenes,  we 
may  all  meet  in  the  realms  of  bliss,  where  there 
is  in  God's  presence  fulness  of  joy,  and  at  his 
right  hand  pleasures  for  evermore !  And  may 
the  love  of  God,  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
rest  and  abide  with  us,  and  all  the  Israel  of 
God,  now,  henceforth,  and  for  ever,  Amen ! 
The  following  hymn  was  then  sung : 

In  the  sun,  and  moon,  and  stars, 
Signs  and  wonders  there  shall  be ; 

Earth  shall  quake  with  inward  wars, 
Nations  with  perplexity. 

Soon  shall  ocean's  hoary  deep, 

Tossed  with  stronger  tempests,  rise; 

Wilder  storms  the  mountains  sweep, 
Louder  thunders  rock  the  skies. 

Dread  alarms  shall  shake  the  proud, 

Pale  amazement,  restless  fear ; 
And,  amid  the  thunder-cloud, 

Shall  the  Judge  of  men  appear. 


166  THE  IKON  FURNACE:   OR 


But  though  from  his  awful  face, 

Heaven  shall  fade,  and  earth  shall  fly, 

Fear  not  ye,  his  chosen  race, 
Your  redemption  draweth  nigh. 

I  preached  longer  than  I  had  intended,  hav 
ing  become  so  fully  engrossed  with  the  subject 
as  to  forget  my  chains  and  my  frustrated  plans. 
My  fellow-prisoners  were  listening  apparently 
with  interest;  great  solemnity  prevailed,  and 
penitential  tears  were  flowing.  It  was  evident 
that  the  Spirit  of  the  living  Grod  was  in  our 
midst;  and  though  danger  and  death  were 
before  our  eyes,  the  consolations  of  the  glorious 
gospel  of  the  blessed  God  caused  our  peace 
to  flow  like  a  river.  The  precious  seed  was 
sown  in  tears.  May  we  not  entertain  a  good 
hope  that  he  who  cast  the  seed  into  this  soil, 
prepared  by  affliction,  shall  come  again  with 
rejoicing,  bringing  his  sheaves  with  him.  By 
my  side  stood  two  in  chains,  who  appeared 
deeply  moved.  During  the  day  I  had  con 
versed  with  them  about  their  souls.  They 
expressed  regret  that  they  had  not  heretofore 
given  this  matter  the  attention  its  importance 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  167 

demanded.  Since  their  imprisonment,  how 
ever,  they  had  been  led  to  feel  that  they  were 
great  sinners,  and  had,  as  they  hoped,  put  their 
trust  in  Christ  alone  for  salvation.  I  have 
since  learned  that  on  the  morrow  they  were 
shot. 


168  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 


CHAPTEE    VI. 

SUCCESSFUL    ESCAPE. 

The  Second  Plan  of  Escape — Under  the  Jail — Egress — 
Among  the  Guards — In  the  Swamp — Travelling  on  the 
Underground  Railroad — The  Fare — Green  Corn  eaten 
Raw — Blackberries  and  Stagnant  Water — The  Blood 
hounds — Tantalizing  Dreams — The  Pickets — The  Cows — 
Become  Sick — Fons  Beatus — Find  Friends — Union  Friend 
No.  Two — The  night  in  the  Barn — Death  of  Newman  by 
Scalding — Union  Friend  No.  Three — Bound  for  the  Union 
Lines— Rebel  Soldiers  —  Black  Ox  — Pied  Ox  — Reach 
Headquarters  in  Safety — Emotions  on  again  beholding 
the  Old  Flag — Kindness  while  Sick — Meeting  with  his 
Family — Richard  Malone  again — The  Serenade — Leave 
Dixie — Northward  bound. 

AFTER  the  sermon  was  concluded,  the  prepara 
tions  for  my  escape  were  commenced.  The 
building  used  for  our  prison  was  built  with  the 
front  toward  the  east.  The  doors  were  at  the 
eastern  and  western  extremities,  which  were 
the  gable  ends,  one  door  being  in  each  end. 
There  were  also  two  windows  at  each  end,  the 
door  being  between  them.  The  doors  and 
window-sashes  had  been  removed,  to  allow  the 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  169 

guards  stationed  in  front  an  unobstructed  view 
of  the  interior.  At  night  the  apartment  was 
lighted,  and  a  guard  patrolled  the  floor ;  it  was, 
therefore,  nearly  impossible  for  a  person  to 
escape  the  observation  of  the  guards,  either 
within  or  without  the  jail.  In  the  ISTorth,  the 
houses  are  usually  built  with  a  cellar  under 
neath  ;  at  the  South,  such  a  thing  is  very  rare, 
the  houses  being  built  upon  the  ground,  or 
upon  piles.  Our  prison  was  built  upon  piles, 
the  floor  being  elevated  about  eighteen  inches 
above  the  ground.  The  boards  were  nailed 
upon  the  building  perpendicularly,  and  in  some 
cases  did  not  quite  reach  to  the  ground.  Small 
openings  were  thus  left  between  the  floor  and 
the  ground,  through  which  a  person  could 
crawl  underneath  the  building.  Around  each 
door  was  an  enclosure,  formed  by  stakes  sur 
mounted  with  poles,  in  the  shape  of  a  parallelo 
gram,  whose  dimensions  were  about  ten  by 
sixteen  feet.  In  each  of  these  enclosures  four 
guards  were  stationed,  one  of  them  being 
seated  in  the  doorway.  The  rear  enclosure 
was  used  for  cooking  purposes ;  and  into  both 
15 


170  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

enclosures  we  were  permitted  to  go  at  pleasure 
during  all  hours  of  the  day,  and  as  late  at 
night  as  ten  o'clock.  Only  three  prisoners 
were  allowed  to  be  in  an  enclosure  at  one  time. 

M had  discovered  a  hole  by  the  side  of 

the  steps  within  the  front  enclosure,  by  which 
I  could  get  under  the  building.  I  felt  unwil 
ling  to  make  such  an  attempt,  as  the  aperture 
was  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  guards. 
M — —  stated  that  four  others  would  aid  me, 
though  .at  considerable  risk  on  their  part. 
"I'll  take  the  risk,"  was  the  individual  response 

of  all  present.     M selected  three,  who  with 

himself  assumed  the  perilous  task,  in  which, 
discovery  would  have  cost  them  their  lives. 

M ;  who  had  devised  the  plan  of  escape, 

now  instructed  us  in  the  respective  parts  we 
were  to  perform.  All  promised  implicit  obe 
dience.  At  half-past  nine,  three  prisoners  and 
myself  were  to  go  into  the  enclosure.  They 
would  stand  up  and  converse  with  the  guards, 
whilst  I  sat  upon  the  ground  by  the  hole,  to 
wait  for  an  opportunity  to  crawl  under  the 
building  unobserved.  This  opportunity  we 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  171 

expected  to  occur  at  ten  o'clock,  when  the 
relief-guard  came  on  duty.  The  duty  of  one 
prisoner  was  to  remain  inside  and  engage  the 
attention  of  the  guard  who  sat  in  the  door 
way,  while  the  other  three  would  go  into  the 
enclosure,  and  entertain  the  other  guards, 
according  to  the  previously  devised  plan.  At 
half-past  nine  o'clock,  we  placed  ourselves  in 
the  designated  positions.  I  readily  removed 
my  chain,  coiled  it  up,  and  laid  it  by  the  side 
of  a  little  stump.  The  moon  shone  with  great 
brilliancy,  revealing  the  tents  which  surrounded 
us  on  every  side.  Officers  and  soldiers  passed 
hurriedly  to  and  fro.  We  were  in  the  midst  of 
the  noise  and  confusion  of  a  great  encampment, 
as  there  were  in  and  around  Tupelo  some 
fifteen  thousand  soldiers.  Mingled  sounds  of 
mirth  and  contention  proceeded  from  the  sur 
rounding  tents.  My  prisoner  friends  were 
engaged  in  a  fierce  argument  with  the  guards 
as  to  the  comparative  merits  of  Tennessee  and 
Mississippi  troops.*  This  was  done  to  divert 
their  attention,  and  I  observed  with  pleasure 
that  they  were  meeting  with  success.  I  reflected 


172  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

that  a  few  more  moments  would  decide  my 
fate.  If  detected,  my  life  must  end  ignomini- 
ously  and  on  the  gallows.  In  the  morning, 
my  anklets  would  be  securely  welded.  I  would 
also  be  handcuffed  and  chained  to  a  post.  Then 
all  hope  must  end,  and  soon  my  corpse  would 
be  borne  into  the  presence  of  her  whose  tears 
were  flowing,  and  who  refused  to  be  com 
forted  because  of  my  ominous  absence. 

The  order  for  the  relief-guard  now  came  loud 
and  clear.  I  heard  their  hurried  tramp,  and 
saw  their  glittering  bayonets  in  the  bright 
moonlight.  The  set  time,  the  appointed  mo 
ment,  big  with  my  fate,  had  arrived.  I  offered 
an  ejaculatory  prayer  to  Him  who  sits  upon 
the  throne  of  heaven  for  protection  at  this 
critical  moment.  The  guard  stood  within  ten 
feet  of  me,  with  their  eyes  constantly  upon 
me.  Just  as  they  were  turning  to  receive  the 
advancing  relief-guard,  I  crawled  backward 
under  the  building,  and  disappeared  from  their 
view.  The  relief-guard  went  on  duty,  and 
those  relieved  retired.  The  prisoners  were 
ordered  into  the  house,  and  as  the  new  guards 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  173 

did  not  know  that  four  were  in  the  enclosure, 
I  was  not  missed. . 

I  was  now  under  the  prison,  but  there  were 
guards  on  every  side,  and  the  jail  was  in  the 
midst  of  a  camp,  so  that  I  was  still  in  great 
danger  of  detection.  I  saw,  through  the 
crevices  in  the  floor,  the  guard  who  patrolled 
the  prison.  I  heard  the  murmurings  and  mut- 
terings  of  the  prisoners,  as  he  occasionally  trod 
upon  them  in  his  carelessness.  I  could  hear, 
though  not  distinctly,  the  conversation  of  the 
prisoners.  One  of  my  assistants  was  detailing 
to  his  companions  their  success  in  getting  me 
off  unnoticed.  The  prisoners  slept  but  little 
that  night,  owing  to  their  anxiety  for  my 
safety,  and  I  frequently  heard  my  name  men 
tioned,  and  hopes  for  my  safety  expressed."  I 
occasionally  fell  into  uneasy  slumbers,  but  the 
fleas  and  other  vermin  were  so  annoying,  that 
my  sleep  refreshed  me  but  little.  I  could  dis 
tinctly  hear  the  new  guard  conversing,  and 
among  other  topics,  one  remarked  that  he  had 
forgotten  the  countersign ;  the  other  replied  that 
it  was  Braxton.  "Well,  said  the  former,  I  thought 
15* 


174:  THE  IRON  FURNACE;   OR 

it  was  Bragg,  or  Braxton,  or  something  like  that. 
Knowing  the  countersign  emboldened  me,  as  I 
could,  if  halted,  give  it,  and  pass  on.  I  soon 
crawled  to  the  north  side  of  the  prison,  and 
found  that  there  were  three  apertures  sufficiently 
large  to  admit  of  my  egress.  Upon  reaching 
the  first  one,  I  found  a  number  of  guards,  some 
sitting  and  some  lying  so  close  to  it,  that  I 
dared  not  make  the  attempt  at  that  point. 

Crawling  to  the  second,  I  remained  till  there 
was  comparative  quiet;  but  at  the  instant  I 
was  about  to  pass  out,  a  soldier,  who  was  lying 
with  his  face  toward  me,  commenced  to  cough, 
and  continued  to  do  so,  at  intervals,  for  more 
than  an  hour.  Finding  it  unadvisable  to  run 
the  risk  of  detection  at  this  point,  I  made  my 
way,  with  considerable  difficulty,  to  the  third, 
and  last  aperture,  near  the  rear  of  the  building, 
and  not  very  distant  from  the  rear-guards.  I 
remained  at  this  aperture  till  I  heard  one  guard 
say  to  another  that  it  was  three  o'clock,  and 
that  they  must  soon  go  on  duty.  I  felt  confi 
dent  that  then  was  my  time,  or  never,  as 
morning  would  find  me  under  the  house,  and 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  175 

I  would  be  re-arrested  in  that  situation.  Com 
mitting  myself  into  the  hands  of  God,  and 
asking  him  to  keep  me  from  detection,  and 
grant  me  a  safe  escape,  I  arose  from  under  the 
building,  passed  by  two  sleeping  guards,  who 
were  lying  within  three  or  four  feet  of  the 
prison.  As  it  was  my  first  essay  at  walking 
without  chains,  I  reeled,  as  if  under  the  influ 
ence  of  strong  drink,  striking  my  foot  against 
the  head  of  one  of  those  sleeping  guards,  who, 
awaking,  turned  over,  and  uttering  some  excla 
mation  of  disapprobation,  took  no  further  notice 
of  me,  doubtless  mistaking  me  for  one  of  his 
companions.  After  proceeding  a  few  steps,  I 
sat  down  upon  the  ground  among  some  of  the 
guards.  I  took  out  my  knife,  and  whistling, 
to  appear  as  unconcerned  as  possible,  com 
menced  whittling  a  stump,  around  which  they 
were  collected — some  sitting,  some  standing, 
and  others  reclining.  I  readily  passed  for 
one  of  them,  as  I  was  wearing  a  colored  shirt, 
which  resembled  that  worn  by  the  guards.  I 
soon,  however,  arose,  and  wound  my  way 
among  the  various  groups,  endeavouring  to 


176  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

reach  the  corn-field,  to  which  I  had  made  my 
first  escape.  After  passing  the  guards  off'  duty, 
a  sentinel  arose  a  short  distance  in  front  of  me, 
evidently  with  the  intention  of  halting  me,  if  I 
advanced  farther.  Stopping  a  few  minutes,  to 
avoid  suspicion,  I  changed  my  direction,  bear 
ing  southwest,  and  after  a  time,  got  into  the 
woods.  Kneeling  down,  I  returned  God  thanks 
for  thus  crowning  my  efforts  with  success,  and 
prayed  for  his  continuous  protection,  and  that 
he  would  choose  out  my  path,  that  I  might 
escape  detection,  and  rejoin  my  family  and 
friends  in  safety. 

I  now  pursued  my  journey  rapidly  in  a 
southwest  direction,  choosing  that  which  led 
directly  from  my  home,  for  two  reasons.  The 
cavalry  and  bloodhounds  would  not  be  so 
likely  to  follow  in  that  direction,  and  after 
listening,  while  in  prison,  to  the  drum-beat 
morning  and  evening,  in  the  various  sur 
rounding  camps,  I  noticed  that  it  had  ceased 
in  the  southwest  for  several  mornings ;  hence  I 
supposed  that  the  camp  in  that  direction  had 
been  broken  up,  and  that,  in  taking  that  route, 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  177 

I  could  more  readily  get  beyond  the  rebel 
pickets,  and  then  I  could  change  my  course, 
and  bear  northward,  and  reach  the  Federal 
lines  at  some  point  on  the  Memphis  and 
Charleston  railroad.  I  hastened  on  till  the  sun 
arose,  having  passed  through  woods  and  corn 
fields,  studiously  avoiding  all  roads,  when,  as 
I  was  rapidly  travelling  along  a  narrow  path, 
I  met  a  negro.  The  suddenness  of  our  meeting 
alarmed  both.  I,  in  a  peremptory  tone,  ad 
dressed  him,  in  quick  succession,  the  following 
interrogatories : 

"  Where  are  you  going  ?  To  whom  do  you 
belong?  "Where  have  you  been?  Have  you 
a  pass  ?" 

"I  belong,"   said  the   boy,   trembling,    "to 

Mr.  .     I  have  been  to  wife's  house;  am 

gwine  back  home,  but  I  haint  got  nary 
pass." 

"I  suppose  it  is  all  right  with  you?" 
"  Oh,  yes,  master !  it's  all  right  wid  me." 
Concluding  that  it  was  not  all  right  "wid" 
myself,  I  hurried  on,  soon  leaving  the   path, 
and  turning  into  a  dense  woods.     Travelling 


178  THIS   IRON   FURXACE;   OR 

on  till  about  one  P.  M.,  I  came  to^an  open 
country,  so  extensive  that  I  could  not  go  round 
it,  neither  could  I,  in  daylight,  travel  through 
it  with  safety.  I  sought  out  a  place  to  hide, 
and  finding  a  ditch  which  bisected  a  corn-field, 
I  concealed  myself  in  that.  During  the  day, 
negroes  and  whites  passed  near,  without  dis 
covering  me.  Becoming  hungry,  I  ate  a  small 
piece  of  the  bread  which  one  of  my  fellow- 
prisoners  had  given  me,  but  it  made  me  quite 
sick.  On  my  former  escape,  I  had,  just  before 
leaving  the  house,  traded  pants  with  a  fellow- 
prisoner,  without  his  knowledge  or  consent. 
On  my  return,  he  refused  to  trade  back.  My 
reason  for  trading  was,  to  get  a  dark  pair,  as 
mine  were  so  light-coloured,  I  feared  the  guards 
would  discover  me  more  readily.  Their  owner 
had  been  accustomed  to  use  tobacco,  and  the 
bread  had  become  tinctured  with  it.  Tobacco 
being  very  offensive  to  me,  its  presence  on  my 
bread  caused  me  to  lose  it. 

The  day  passed  away,  and  the  night  came. 
The  stars  came  out  in  silent  glory,  one  by  one. 
Fixing  my  eye  upon  the  pole-star,  the  under- 


SLAVEKY  AND  SECESSION.  179 

ground  railroad  travellers'  guide,  I  set  out, 
bearing  a  little  to  the  west  of  north.  I  soon 
reached  the  thick  woods,  and  found  it  very 
difficult  to  make  rapid  progress,  in  consequence 
of  the  dense  under- growth  and  obscure  light. 
The  bushes  would  strike  me  in  the  eyes,  and 
often  the  top  of  a  fallen  tree  would  cause  me 
to  make  quite  a  circuit.  Soon,  however,  the 
moon  arose  in  her  brightness — the  old  silver 
moon.  But  her  light  I  found  to  be  far  less 
brilliant  than  that  of  the  sun,  and  her  rays 
were  much  obscured  by  the  dense  foliage  over 
head  ;  hence  my  progress  was  necessarily  slow, 
laboured,  and  toilsome.  I  slept  but  little  during 
the  day,  in  consequence  of  the  proximity  of 
those  who  might  be  bitter  foes,  and  also 
the  unpleasant  position  I  occupied,  as  the  ditch 
in  which  I  had  concealed  myself  was  muddy, 
and .  proved  an  uncomfortable  bed.  I  therefore 
became  weary,  my  limbs  stiff  from  travel  and 
from  the  pressure  of  the  heavy  iron  bands. 
Sleep  overpowered  me,  and  I  laid  down 
in  the  leaves,  and  slept  till  the  cold  awoke 
me,  which,  judging  from  the  moon's  descent, 


180  THE  IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

must  have  been  an  hour  and  a  half.  The 
nights  in  Mississippi  are  invariably  cool,  how 
ever  hot  the  days  may  be.  Arising  from  my 
uneasy  slumber,  I  pressed  on.  My  thirst,  which 
for  some  time  had  been  increasing,  now  became 
absolutely  unendurable.  I  knew  not  where  to 
obtain  water,  not  daring  to  go  near  a  well, 
through  fear  of  being  arrested.  At  length  I 
heard  some  suckling  pigs  and  their  dam,  at  a 
short  distance  from  me,  in  the  woods.  There 
seemed  to  be  no  alternative.  I  must  either 
perish,  or  obtain  some  fluid  to  slake  my  raging 
thirst;  so  I  resolved  to  catch  a  little  pig,  cut 
its  throat,  and  drink  the  blood.  I  searched  for 
my  knife,  but  I  had  lost  it.  I  was,  therefore, 
reluctantly  compelled  to  abandon  my  design 
on  the  suckling's  life.  As  I  went  forward,  the 
sow  and  her  brood  started  up  alarmed,  and  in 
their  flight,  plunged  into  water.  I  immediately 
followed,  and  found  a  mud-hole.  Kemoving 
the  green  scum,  I  drank  deep  of  the  stagnant 
pool.  My  thirst  was  only  partially  quenched 
by  this  draught,  and  soon  returned.  As  day 
dawned,  I  found  some  sassafras  leaves,  which 


SLAVEEY  AND  SECESSION.  181 

I  chewed,  to  allay  the  pangs  of  hunger;  but 
they  formed  a  paste  which  I  could  not  swallow. 
I  soon  after-  came  to  an  old  field,  where  I 
obtained  an  abundant  supply  of  blackberries, 
which  not  only  served  to  check  the  gnawings 
of  hunger,  but  also  to  allay  my  intolerable 
thirst.  I  reflected  that  this  day  was  the  holy 
Sabbath,  but  it  brought  neither  rest  to  my 
weary  frame,  nor  composure  to  my  agitated  and 
excited  mind.  Like  Salathiel,  the  Wandering 
Jew,  the  word  March!  was  ringing  in  my  ears. 
Onward!  was  my  motto;  Liberty  or  death!  my 
watchword.  About  ten  o'clock  I  came  to  an 
open  country,  and  sought  out  a  ditch,  in  which 
to  conceal  myself.  Here  I  fell  into  a  troubled 
sleep.  I  saw,  in  dreams,  tables  groaning  under 
the  weight  of  the  most  delicious  viands,  and 
brooks  of  crystal  waters,  bubbling  and  spark 
ling  as  they  rushed  onward  in  their  meandering 
course;  but  when  I  attempted  to  grasp  them, 
they  served  me  as  they  did  Tantalus,  of  olden 
time,  by  vanishing  into  thin  air,  or  receding 
beyond  my  reach.  While  lying  here,  I  was 
now  and  then  aroused  by  the  trampling  of 
16 


182  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

horses  grazing  in  the  field,  which  I  feared 
might  be  bringing  on  my  pursuers.  And  once 
the  voices  of  men,  mingled  with  the  sounds  of 
horses'  feet  upon  a  little  bridge,  some  twenty 
feet  distant,  induced  me  to  look  out  from  my 
hiding-place,  and  lo!  two  cavalry-men — per 
haps  hunting  for  my  life ! — rode  along. 

When  the  sun  had  reached  the  zenith,  I 
was  again  startled  by  voices,  which  approached 
nearer  and  nearer  my  place  of  concealment,  till 
at  length  the  cause  was  discovered.  Several 
children,  both  black  and  white,  had  come  from 
a  farm-house,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant, 
to  gather  blackberries  along  the  margin  of  the 
ditch.  They  soon  discovered  me,  and  seemed 
somewhat  startled  and  alarmed  at  my  appear 
ance.  I  soon  saw  them  gazing  down  upon  me, 
in  my  moist  bed,  with  evident  amazement  and 
alarm.  Pallid,  haggard,  unshaven,  and  covered 
with  mud,  I  must  have  presented  a  frightful 
picture. 

As  soon  as  the  children  passed  me,  fearing 
the  report  they  would  carry  home,  I  arose 
from  my  lair,  and  hurried  on,  though  I  had  to 


SLAVEKY   AND   SECESSION.  183 

pass  in  sight  of  several  houses.  After  travel 
ling  three  or  four  miles  through  an  open 
champaign  country,  I  came  to  a  dense  woods, 
bordering  a  stream  which  had  ceased  running, 
in  consequence  of  the  great  drought  that  had, 
for  a  long  time,  prevailed  throughout  this  sec 
tion  of  Mississippi.  The  creek  had  been  a 
large  one,  and  in  the  deep  holes,  some  water 
still  remained,  though  warm,  and  covered  with 
a  heavy  scum,  and  mingled  with  the  spawn 
of  frogs.  I  drank  it,  however,  from  sheer 
necessity,  tepid  and  unhealthy  as  it  was.  It 
did  not  allay  my  thirst,  but  created  a  nausea, 
which  was  very  unpleasant. 

About  four  o'clock  P.  M.,  I  was  startled  by 
the  baying  of  bloodhounds  behind  me,  and 
apparently  on  my  track.  Before  escaping  from 
jail,  I  had  been  advised  by  the  prisoners  to 
obtain  some  onions,  as  these,  rubbed  on  the 
soles  of  my  boots,  would  destroy  the  scent. 
They  could  only  be  procured,  however,  by  a 
visit  to  some  garden-patch,  and  I  feared  to  go 
so  near  a  house.  I  had  left  no  clothes  in  prison 
from  which  the  hounds  could  obtain  the  scent  in 


184  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

order  to  find  my  track,  and  my  starting  in  a 
southwest  direction  was  an  additional  precau 
tion  against  bloodhounds.  Their  baying  soon 
became  alarmingly  distinct.  Having  heard  them 
almost  every  night  for  years,  as  they  hunted 
down  the  fugitive  slave,  I  could  not  mistake 
the  fearful  import  of  their  howling.  I  could 
devise  no  plan  for  breaking  the  trail.  Dan 
Boone,  when  pursued  by  Indians,  succeeded  in 
baffling  the  hounds  by  catching  at  some  over 
hanging  branches,  and  swinging  himself  for 
ward.  Negroes  often  destroy  the  scent  by 
carrying  matches,  and  setting  the  leaves  on  fire. 
One  negro  of  whom  I  heard,  ran  along  the 
brink  of  a  precipice,  and  dug  a  recess  back 
from  the  narrow  path.  Crawling  into  it,  ho 
remained  till  the  hounds  reached  that  point, 
when  he  thrust  them  from  the  path.  They  fell 
and  were  dashed  to  pieces  on  the  jagged  rocks 
below. 

None  of  these  plans  were  practicable  to  me, 
and  I  supposed  death  imminent,  either  from 
being  torn  to  pieces  by  the  hounds,  or  by  being 
shot  by  the  cavalry,  who  were  following  them. 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  185 

Climbing  a  tree,  I  resolved  to  await  the  arrival 
of  the  cavalry,  and  having  determined  to  "die 
rather  than  be  taken  back  again  to  Tupelo,  I 
would  refuse  to  obey  any  summons  to  descend. 
O,  how  I  wished  for  my  navy  repeater,  that  I 
might  sell  my  life  as  dearly  as  possible!  that 
I  might  make  some  secessionist  bite  the  dust 
ere  I  was  slain !  I  often  thought  of  the  couplet 
in  the  old  song — 

"  The  hounds  are  baying  on  my  track, 
.     Christian,  will  you  send  me  back?" 

A  feeling  of  strong  sympathy  arose  in  my 
bosom  for  the  poor  African,  who,  in  his  endea 
vour  to  escape  from  the  Iron  Furnace  of 
Southern  slavery,  often  encountered  the  blood 
hounds,  and  was  torn  to  pieces  by  them.  "  A 
fellow  feeling  makes  us  wondrous  kind." 

I  had  remained  but  a  short  time  in  the  tree, 
when  I  ascertained  that  the  hounds  were  bear 
ing  eastward,  and  they  soon  passed  at  a  dis 
tance.  They  were  on  the  track  of  some  other 
poor  fugitive,  and  I  rejoiced  again  in  the  hope 
of  safety.  Coming  to  a  corn-field,  I  plucked 
16* 


186  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

two  ears  of  corn,  and  ate  them  raw,  having  no 
matches  wherewith  to  kindle  a  fire,  which, 
indeed,  would  have  increased  my  peril,  as  the 
smoke  might  advertise  my  presence  to  bitter 
and  unrelenting  foes. 

Toward  night  I  lay  down  in  the  woods,  and 
fell  asleep.  Visions  of  abundance,  both  to  eat 
and  drink,  haunted  me,  and  every  unusual 
sound  would  startle  me.  A  fly  peculiar  to  the 
South,  whose  buzz  sounded  like  the  voice  of  an 
old  man,  often  awoke  me  with  the  fear  that 
my  enemies  were  near.  As  soon  as  Ursa 
Minor  appeared,  I  took  up  my  line  of  march. 
The  night  was  very  dark,  and  I  became  some 
what  bewildered.  At  length  I  reached  a  cross 
roads,  and  as  I  was  emerging  from  the  wood, 
I  saw  two  pickets  a  few  yards  from  me. 
Stooping  down,  I  crawled  on  my  hands  and 
knees  back  into  the  woods.  As  I  retired,  I 
heard  one  picket  say  to  the  other,  "Who  is 
that?" 

lie   replied,    "It    is   the    lieutenant   of   the 
guard." 

"What  does  he  want?"  said  the  first. 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  187 

"He  is  slipping  round  to  see  if  we  are 
asleep." 

After  I  got  a  safe  distance  in  the  bushes,  I 
lay  down  and  slept  till  the  moon  arose.  To 
the  surprise  of  my  bewildered  brain,  it  seemed 
to  rise  in  the  west.  Taking  my  course,  I  has 
tened  on,  sometimes  through  woods,  sometimes 
through  cornfields,,  and  sometimes  through 
swamps.  Coming  to  a  large  pasture,  in  which 
a  number  of  cows  were  grazing,  I  tried  to 
obtain  some  milk,  but  none  of  them  would 
allow  me  to  approach  near  enough  to  effect 
my  purpose.  My  face  was  not  of  the  right 
colour,  and  my  costume  belonged  to  a  sex 
that  never  milked  them.  I  travelled  until 
day-break,  when  I  concealed  myself  in  a 
thicket  of  cane,  and  had  scarcely  fallen  asleep 
when  I  heard  the  sound  of  the  reveille,  in  a 
camp  close  at  hand.  Arising,  I  hurriedly  beat 
a  retreat,  and  travelled  several  hours  before  I 
dared  take  any  rest.  I  at  length  lay  down 
amid  the  branches  of  a  fallen  tree,  and  slept. 
Visions  of  home  and  'friends  flitted  before  me. 
Voices  sweet  and  kind  greeted  me  on  all 


188  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

sides.  The  bitter  taunts  of  cruel  officers  no 
longer  assailed  my  ears.  The  loved  ones  at 
home  were  present,  and  the  joys  of  the  past 
were  renewed.  But,  alas!  the  falling  of  a  limb 
dissipated  all  my  fancied  pleasures.  The  real 
ity  returned,  and  I  was  still  a  fugitive  escaping 
for  life,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  hostile  country. 

To-day  my  mock  trial  would  have  taken 
place,  and  I  fancied  the  disappointment  of 
Woodruff;  who  had  stated  that  to  his  know 
ledge  I  was  a  spy,  and  to-day  would  have 
sworn  it.  And  Barnes,  the  mail-robber,  recom 
mended  for  promotion  because  of  his  heroism 
in  re-arresting  me,  how  sad  he  must  feel,  that 
the  bird  had  flown,  and  that  he  would  not  have 
the  pleasure  of  witnessing  my  execution.  I 
thanked  God  and  took  courage.  Though  faint 
and  weary,  I  was  still  hopeful  and  trusting, 
often  repeating, 

«"Tis  God  has  led  mo  safe  thus  far, 
And  he  will  bring  me  home." 

On  this  (Monday)  night,  I  travelled  steadily, 
crossing  swamps,  corn-fields,  woods,  and  pas 
tures.  I  came  to  only  one  cotton-field  dur- 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  189 

ing    the    night.      I    passed    through    several 
wheat-fields,  where  the  wheat  had  been  har 
vested;  I  pulled  a  handful  from  a  shock,  and 
rubbed  out  some  of  the  grain,  but  it  was  so 
fitter  I  could  not  eat  it.     I  suspected  every 
bush  a  secessionist,  though  I  felt  much  more 
secure  at  night  than  in  daylight.     I  avoided 
roads  as  much  as  possible,  travelling  on  none 
except  to   cross   them,  which   was  done  with 
great  rapidity.     The  rising  sun  still  found  me 
pressing  onward,  and  thirst  and  hunger  were 
now  consuming  me.     To  satisfy  hunger,  I  had 
recourse  to  the  corn-field;  but  I  could  find  no 
water.     I  would  gladly  have  drank  any  kind 
of  beverage,  however  filthy,  so  that  my  thirst 
might  be  allayed.     About  nine  o'clock,  when  I 
had  almost  despaired  of  getting  water  at  all,  I 
came  to  a  copious  fountain  in  a  gorge  of  the 
hills,  and  from  its  appearance,  I  seemed  to  be 
the  discoverer.    Around  it  there  was  no  trace  of 
human  foot,  nor  hoof  of  cattle.     On  beholding 
it,  I  wept  with  joy.   I  remained  by  it  about  four 
hours,  quaffing  its  cool  and  crystal  waters,  the 
first  running  water  I  had  tasted  since  leaving 


190  THE   IROX   FURNACE;    OR 

prison.  I  also  bathed  my  body  and  washed 
my  clothes,  drying  them  in  the  sun,  and  endea 
voured  to  rid  them  of  vermin,  in  which  I  only 
partially  succeeded.  I  named  this  fountain 
Fons  BeatiiSj  and  left  it  with  sincere  sorrow. 

Three  o'clock,  P.  M.,  arrived,  and  I  felt 
bewildered.  I  knew  not  where  I  was.  I  might 
be  near  friends,  I  might  be  near  bloodthirsty 
foes.  I  could  scarcely  walk.  My  iron  bands 
had  become  very  irksome.  I  felt  that  I  was 
becoming  childish.  I  could  tell  all  my  bones. 
I  tried  to  pray,  but  could  only  utter,  "Lord,  be 
merciful  to  me,  a  sinner!"  Still  I  felt  thankful 
that  it  was  so  well  with  me  as  it  was. 

At  that  very  hour,  had  I  not  escaped,  I 
should  have  been  either  on  the  scaffold  at 
Tupelo,  or  suspended  between  heaven  and 
earth,  surrounded  by  an  insulting  and  jeer 
ing  army.  This  reflection  made  me  thank 
ful  to  God,  even  though  I  should  die  in  the 
swamps.  The  sky  became  overcast,  and  I 
found  it  impossible  to  distinguish  north  from 
south.  I  therefore  concealed  myself  and  slept. 
It  was  night  when  I  awoke,  and  the  clouds  still 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  191 

covered  the  sky  threateningly,  concealing  my 
guiding  star,  and  rendering  it  impossible  for 
me  to  proceed.  Thus,  when  I  wished  most  to 
go  forward,  my  progress  was  arrested,  and  my 
distressing  suspense  prolonged.  During  the 
whole  night  I  was  asleep  and  awake  alter 
nately,  but  could  not  at  any  time  discern  either 
moon  or  stars.  Once,  while  sleeping  behind  a 
fallen  tree  by  the  roadside,  a  horseman  passed 
by.  His  dog,  a  large  and  ferocious-looking 
animal,  came  running  along  by  the  side  of  the 
tree  where  I  was  lying.  "When  he  reached  me, 
I  raised  up  suddenly  and  brandishing  a  club 
menacingly,  the  alarmed  and  howling  dog 
incontinently  and  ingloriously  fled,  leaving  me 
master  of  the  field. 

On  Wednesday  morning  the  sun  was  still 
obscured  until  nine  o'clock.  I  was  then  sick. 
There  was  a  ringing  in  my  ears,  and  I  was 
affected  with  vertigo,  a  dimness  of  vision  and 
faintness,  which  rendered  me  absolutely  unfit 
for  travel.  It  required  an  hour  to  walk  a 
quarter  of  a  mile.  I  found  a  good  supply  of 
blackberries,  which  very  much  refreshed  me. 


192  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

Before  me  was  a  hill,  the  top  of  which  I  reached 
after  two  hours'  laborious  ascent.  I  despaired 
of  getting  much  further.  I  thought  I  must 
perish  in  the  Iron  Furnace  of,  secession,  which 
was  heated  very  hot  for  me.  Feeling  confident 
that  I  must  be  near  Tippah  county,  and  know 
ing  that  there  were  many  Union  men  in  that 
county,  I  resolved  to  call  at  the  first  house  on 
my  route.  If  I  remained  where  I  was,  I  must 
perish,  as  I  could  go  no  further,  and  if  I  met 
with  a  Union  family,  I  should  be  saved ;  if  with 
"  a  secesh,"  I  might  possibly  impose  upon  their 
credulity,  and  get  refreshment  without  being 
arrested.  They  might,  however,  cause  my  arrest. 
It  was  a  dilemma  such  as  I  hope  never  to  be 
placed  in  again.  About  an  hour  before  sunset 
I  came  to  a  house,  and  remained  near  it  for 
some  time.  At  length  I  saw  a  negro  girl  come 
to  the  door.  Knowing  that  where  there  were 
negroes,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  there  were 
secessionists  near,  I  left  the  house  as  quickly 
as  my  enfeebled  condition  would  permit.  Going 
to  another  house,  I  remained  near  it  till  I  was 
satisfied  there  were  no  negroes  held  by  that 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  193 

family.  I  then  went  boldly  up,  knocked, 
gained  admittance,  and  asked  for  some  water, 
which  was  given  me.  The  lady  of  the  house, 
scrutinizing  me  closely,  asked  me  if  I  were  from 
Tupelo.  I  replied  in  the  affirmative.  She  then 
inquired  my  name.  I  gave  her  my  Christian 
name,  John  Hill,  suppressing  the  surname.  Her 
husband  was  sitting  near,  a  man  of  Herculean 
frame;  and  as  the  wife's  inquisitiveness  was 
beginning  to  alarm  me,  I  turned  to  him  and 
said:  "My  friend,  you  are  a  man  of  great 
physical  powers,  and  at  this  time  you  ought  to 
be  in  the  army.  The  Yankees  are  overrunning 
all  our  country,  and  the  service  of  every  man 
is  needed."  His  wife  replied  that  he  was  not  in 
the  army,  nor  would  he  go  into  it,  unless  he 
was  forced  to  go.  They  had  been  told  that  the 
cavalry  would  be  after  him  in  a  few  days,  to 
take  him  as  a  conscript ;  but  she  considered  the 
conscript  law,  base  and  tyrannical.  Overjoyed 
at  the  utterance  of  such  sentiments  as  these,  I 
then  revealed  my  true  character.  I  told  them 
that  I  had  recently  made  my  escape  from 
Tupelo,  where  I  was  doomed  to  execution  on 
17 


194  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

the  gallows,  and  that  I  was  now  flying  from 
prison  and  from  death.  I  then  exhibited  the 
iron  bands  upon  my  ankles.  Both  promised  all 
the  aid  in  their  power.  The  lady  at  once  pro 
posed  to  prepare  supper,  but  I  was  too  near  the 
point  of  starvation  to  await  the  slow  process  of 
cooking.  She  therefore  turned  down  the  table 
cloth,  which  covered  the  fragments  remaining 
from  dinner,  and  disclosed  some  corn  bread 
and  Irish  potatoes.  Though  I  never  liked  corn 
bread,  I  must  confess  I  thought  that  was  the 
sweetest  morsel  I  had  ever  tasted. 

After  eating  a  little,  however,  I  became  very 
sick,  and  was  compelled  to  desist.  It  was  so 
long  since  I  had  partaken  of  any  substantial 
food,  that  my  stomach  now  could  not  bear  it. 
The  lady  soon  prepared  supper,  consisting  of 
broiled  chicken,  and  other  delicacies.  The 
fowl  was  quite  small,  and  I  ate  nearly  the 
whole  of  it,  much  to  the  chagrin  of  a  little 
daughter  of  mine  host,  whom  I  heard  com 
plaining  to  her  mother,  afterward,  in  an  adjoin 
ing  room,  saying,  "Ma,  all  I  got  of  that  chicken 
was  a  little  piece  of  the  wing,"  and  "aint  that 


SLAVERY    AND   SECESSION.  195 

gentleman  a  boss  to  eat  ?"  with  other  remarks 
by  no  means  complimentary  to  my  voracious 
appetite. 

After  supper,  mine  host  endeavoured  to 
remove  the  heavy  iron  bands  by  which  my 
ankles  were  clasped.  This  was  accomplished 
after  considerable  labour.  I  asked  him  to 
retain  the  bands  till  called  for,  which  he  pro 
mised  to  do.  The  good  lady  furnished  me  with 
water  and  a  suit  of  her  husband's  clothes.  After 
performing  a  thorough  ablution,  I  donned  the 
suit,  and  felt  completely  metamorphosed,  and 
was  thoroughly  disguised,  as  my  new  suit 
had  been  made  for  a  man  of  vastly  larger 
physical  proportions.  I  spent  the  night  with 
my  new  friends,  during  which  a  heavy 
thunder-storm  passed  over.  Had  I  been  out 
in  the  drenching  rain  in  my  wretched  con 
dition,  I  must  surely  have  perished.  In  the 
morning  my  host  informed  me  of  a  Union 
man  who  knew  the  country  in  the  direction  of 
Kienzi,  the  point  which  I  now  determined  to 
reach.  This  gentleman  lived  half  a  mile  dis 
tant,  and  my  host  accompanied  me  to  a  thicket 


196  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

near  his  house,  where  1  concealed  myself  till  he 
brought  Mr.  —  -  to  me.  Said  my  friend  No.  2, 
"I  am  not  familiar  with  the  route  to  Bienzi, 
but  will  go  with  you  to  friend  No.  3,  who  I  am 
positive  is  well  acquainted  with  the  road.  He 
can  take  you  through  the  woods,  so  as  to  avoid 
the  Confederate  cavalry.  As  I  undertake  this 
at  the  risk  of  my  life,  we  must  wait  till  night. 
I  would  gladly  have  you  come  to  my  house, 
but  I  fear  that  it  might  transpire  through  my 
children  that  I  had  helped  you  to  escape.  I 
have  a  large  family,  and  most  of  'em  is  gals, 
and  you  know  gals  will  talk.  You  can  stay  in 
my  barn  till  I  come  for  you.  I  will  carry  you 
provisions  during  the  day,  and  to-night  we  will 
go  to  my  friend's." 

About  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  he  came 
with  two  horses,  one  of  which  he  mounted,  and 
I  the  other.  The  horse  I  rode  was  a  blooded 
animal,  and  to  use  my  friend's  expression,  could 
run  like  a  streak  of  lightning.  I  provided 
myself  with  a  good  whip,  resolving,  in  case  of 
danger,  to  put  my  horse  to  his  utmost  speed. 
A  short  time  after  daylight,  we  reached  friend 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  197 

No.  3,  who  promised  to  conduct  me  to  Eienzi. 
While  at  his  house,  I  learned  that  a  Unionist, 

Mr.  N ,  had  been  killed  under  circumstances 

of  the  greatest  cruelty.  His  sentiments  had 
become  known  to  the  rebels.  He  was  arrested 
by  their  cavalry,  and  refusing  to  take  the  oath, 
they  resolved  to  put  him  to  death  on  the  spot. 
He  had  a  large  family  of  small  children,  who, 
together  with  his  wife,  begged  that  his  life 
might  be  spared.  He  himself  had  no  favours 
to  ask  of  the  secessionists.  Among  his  foes, 
the  only  point  of  dispute  was,  as  to  the  mode 
of  his  death.  Some  favoured  shooting,  some 
hanging ;  but  the  prevailing  majority  were  in 
favour  of  scalding  him  to  death.  And  there, 
in  the  presence  of  his  weeping  and  helpless 
family,  these  fiends  in  human  form  deliberately 
heated  water,  with  which  they  scalded  to  death 
their  chained  and  defenceless  victim.  Thus 
perished  a  patriot  of  whom  the  State  was 
not  worthy.  The  corpse  was  then  suspended 
from  a  tree,  with  a  label  on  the  breast,  stating 
that  whoever  cut  him  down  and  buried  him, 
should  suffer  the  same  fate.  My  companions 


198  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

cut  down  the  corpse  by  night,  and  buried  it 
in  the  forest.    May  God  reward  them ! 

My  friend  No.  3  thought  that  it  would  be 
best  to  travel  in  daylight.  He  could  follow 
by-paths,  and  avoid  the  rebel  cavalry.  We 
started  about  eight  o'clock  on  Friday  morning, 
and  met  with  no  incident  worth  narrating  until 
we  reached  a  mill;  here  we  fell  in  with  some 
six  or  seven  rebel  soldiers,  who  had  been  out 
on  sick  furlough,  and  were  returning.  They 
scanned  us  closely,  and  inquired  whence  we 
came,  and  whither  bound.  My  friend  specified 
a  neighbourhood  from  which  he  affirmed  we 
came,  and  stated  that  we  were  hunting  stray 
oxen,  asking  whether  they  had  seen  a  black 
ox  and  a  pied  ox  in  their  travels.  They 
replied  in  the  negative;  and  in  turn  asked 
him  who  I  was.  He  replied  that  I  was  his 
wife's  brother,  who  had  come  from  Alabama 
about  three  months  ago.  They  said  I  looked 
like  "death  on  a  pale  hoss,"  and  wished  to 
know  what  was  the  matter  with  me — if  I  were 
consumptive.  My  friend  replied  that  I  had  had 
the  chills  for  several  months ;  and  as  there  was 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  199 

no  quinine  in  the  country,  it  was  impossible  to 
stop  them. 

During  this  inquisition,  I  was  ready  at  any 
moment  to  put  spur  to  my  horse,  and  run  a 
race  for  life,  had  any  attempt  been  made  to 
arrest  me,  or  if  I  had  been  recognised  by  any 
of  the  soldiers.  We  were,  however,  permitted 
to  pass  on,  not  without  some  suspicious  glances. 
We  at  length  reached  a  point  ten  miles  from 
Kienzi.  My  guide  now  insisted  on  return 
ing.  It  would  be  morning  ere  he  reached 
home,  and  if  met  by  cavalry,  he  must  invent 
some  plausible  excuse  for  having  a  led  horse. 
Nor  did  he  dare  return  by  the  same  route. 
Knowing  the  country,  I  permitted  him  to 
return.  I  then  set  out  on  foot,  and  at  length 
reached  the  Federal  pickets,  three  miles  from 
Eienzi,  where  a  horse  was  furnished  me;  and 
about  ten  o'clock  I  reached  the  head-quarters 
of  Colonel  Misner  in  Kienzi.  When  I  gazed 
upon  the  star-spangled  banner,  beneath  whose 
ample  folds  there  was  safety  and  protection — 
when  I  saw  around  me  the  Union  hosts — I 
shed  tears  of  joy,  and  from  the  depths  of  my 


200  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

heart  returned  thanks  to  Almighty  God,  who 
had  given  me  my  life  at  my  request,  preserving 
me,  amid  dangers  seen  and  unseen,  till  I  now 
was  safe  amid  hosts  of  friends. 

Colonel  Misner  requested  me  to  report  all 
that  would  be  of  service  to  General  Kosecrans, 
which  I  did,  he  copying  my  report  as  I  gave  it. 
I  reported,  so  far  as  I  was  informed,  the  proba 
ble  number  of  troops  in  and  around  Tupelo, 
the  topography  of  the  country,  the  probable 
designs  of  the  rebels,  the  number  of  troops 
sent  to  Richmond  under  Beauregard,  &c.  The 
Colonel  requested  me  to  go  with  him  to  head 
quarters  in  the  morning;  but  at  the  hour  speci 
fied  I  was  sick,  and  my  physician,  Dr.  Holley, 
of  the  Thirty-sixth  Illinois,  thought  it  would 
not  be  advisable  for  me  to  go,  even  in  an 
ambulance.  My  report,  however,  was  carried 
up  to  General  Eosecrans. 

Through  proper  treatment  I  recovered  in  a 
few  days,  so  as  to  be  able  to  go  into  Jacinto, 
the  nearest  point  in  the  Federal  lines  to  my 
family.  I  called  on  General  Jefferson  C.  Davis, 
who  was  in  command  of  that  post.  The  General 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  201 

had  heard  of  my  arrest,  and  expressed  gratifica 
tion  at  my  safe  return.  I  informed  him  of  my 
desire  to  get  my  family  within  the  lines.  The 
General  immediately  proffered  me  all  the  caval 
ry  at  his  command,  and  ordered  them  to  pre 
pare  for  the  expedition.  I  thankfully  accepted 
his  kind  offer,  but  after  reflection  concluded  to 
send  a  messenger  first,  with  a  letter  to  my 
wife;  if  he  were  not  intercepted,  I  knew  that 
she  would  come  in  as  soon  as  possible.  The 
order  to  the  cavalry  was  countermanded  until 
this  plan  would  be  tried.  The  messenger  was 
not  intercepted,  and  on  the  next  day  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  beholding  my  wife  and  child,  whose 
faces,  a  short  time  before,  I  had  given  up  all 
hope  of  ever  beholding  on  earth. 

While  here,  I  called  on  my  friend,  Lieuten 
ant  Eichard  Malone,  who  resides  in  Jacinto. 
On  inquiring  at  his  house  for  him,  he  heard 
my  voice,  and  ran  out  to  the  gate  to  meet  me. 
Grasping  my  hand,  he  could  not  for  some  time 
control  his  emotions  so  as  to  speak. 

Malone  gave  me  his  history  since  we  had 
parted  at  the  outer  wall  of  the  prison.  He 


202  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

reached  the  corn-field  at  the  point  designated, 
and  anxiously  awaited  my  arrival  until  near 
daylight,  when  he  was  compelled  to  seek  safety 
in  flight.     We  had  agreed  to  meet  in  the  corn 
field  at  a  place  where  there  was  a  garment  sus 
pended  upon  the  fence.     We  think  there  must 
have  been  two  garments  suspended  at  different 
points,  and  hence  our  mistake.     We  could  not 
signal  loud  in  consequence  of  the  nearness  of 
the  pickets,  and  therefore  did  not  meet.     Soon 
after  daylight,   Malone   found   himself  in  the 
midst   of  a   cavalry   company  which  had  en 
camped    there   during   the   night;    they   were 
making  preparations   for   departure,    and    the 
majority  of  them  were  gathering  blackberries. 
Joining  them,  he  passed  as  a  citizen,  and  when 
he  reached  the  rear  of  the  company,  he  gath 
ered    some   sticks    in    his   arms,    and    started 
towards  a  small  cabin  at  a  short  distance,  as  if 
it  were  his  residence.     Before  reaching  it,  he 
made  a  detour  to  the  right,  and  passed  into  the 
dense   woods.      On   the   next   day,   about   ten 
o'clock,  A.  M.,  he  reached  an  open  champaign 
country,  through  which   it  would   have   been 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  203 

dangerous  to  travel.  To  the  west,  about  three 
hundred  yards  distant,  was  a  dense  woods, 
which  he  hoped  to  reach  without  detection. 
"While  travelling  down  a  road  for  this  purpose, 
four  cavalrymen  who  were  in  pursuit  dashed 
towards  him,  and  ordered  him  to  return  with 
them  to  Tupelo.  Malone  replied,  that  as  it 
was  useless  to  resist,  he  must  submit.  He 
asked  for  some  water;  they  had  none  in  their 
canteens,  but  went  to  a  house  in  the  dis 
tance  to  obtain  some.  Malone  was  ordered 
to  march  before  them,  which  he  was  com 
pelled  to  do,  though  famishing  from  hunger 
and  thirst.  On  reaching  the  house,  they  all 
went  to  the  well  and  drew  a  bucket  of  water. 
There  being  no  dipper,  Malone  remarked  that 
he  would  go  into  the  house  and  get  one. 
One  of  the  guards  followed,  and  stationed 
himself  at  the  door  with  his  gun.  Malone 
went  into  the  house,  and  immediately  passed 
out  at  the  back  door.  The  garden  gate  being 
open,  he  passed  into  the  garden,  when  he 
commenced  running.  Two  women  in  the 
house  noticed  his  running,  and  clapping  their 


204 

hands  exclaimed,  "  Your  Yankee's  gone !  Your 
Yankee's  gone!"  Tlie  guards  immediately 
followed,  ordering  him  to  halt,  and  firing  at 
him  with  their  revolvers.  Malone  quickly 
reached  a  corn-field,  and  soon  after  a  swamp, 
whence  he  made  good  his  escape,  and  after 
various  vicissitudes  reached  his  family  in 
Jacinto,  where  I  now  found  him. 

I  returned  to  Jiienzi  with  my  family,  re 
solved  to  leave  for  the  North,  My  wife,  before 
leaving  her  father's,  learned,  through  a  letter 
sent  by  a  rebel  officer  to  his  wife,  that  all  the 
guards  who  were  on  duty  during  the  night  I 
escaped  from  prison,  were  placed  under  close 
arrest,  and  were  still  in  the  dungeon  at  the 
time  of  his  writing.  There  were  eleven  guards 
on  each  relief,  and  three  reliefs  during  the 
night ;  there  were,  therefore,  thirty-three  guards 
placed  under  arrest  because  of  my  escape. 

On  the  night  previous  to  our  departure  from 
Eienzi,  we  were  honoured  with  a  serenade, 
through  the  politeness  of  General  Granger,  of 
the  cavalry,  and  Colonel  Bryner,  of  the  Forty- 


SLAVERY   AND   SECESSION.  205 

seventh  Illinois  Eegiment.     Being  called  on  for 
a  speech,  I  thus  responded : 

GENTLEMEN — I  return  you  sincere  thanks  for 
the  honour  intended  myself  and  family.  In 
the  language  of  the  last  tune  played  by  your 
band,  I  truly  feel  at  "  home  again,"  and  it  fills 
my  soul  with  joy  to  meet  my  friends  once 
more.  What  a  vast  difference  a  few  miles 
makes !  Tupelo  is  about  forty  miles  south  of 
Eienzi,  on  an  air-line.  There  I  was  regarded 
as  a  base  irigrate,  as  a  despicable  traitor,  as  an 
enemy  to  the  country,  chained,  as  a  felon, 
doomed  to  die,  and  before  the  execution  of  the 
sentence,  subjected  to  every  species  of  insult 
and  contumely.  Here  I  meet  with  the  kindest 
expressions  of  sympathy  from  officers  of  all 
ranks,  from  the  subaltern  to  the  general,  and 
there  is  not  a  private  soldier  who  has  heard  my 
tale  of  woe,  who  does  not  manifest  a  kindly 
sympathy. 

I  hope  that  you  will  soon  pass  south  of 
Tupelo ;  but  in  your  march  to  the  Gulf,  may 
you  fare  better  than  I  did  in  my  journey  to 
18 


206  THE   IKON   FURNACE;    OB 

this  place.  Green  corn  eaten  raw,  berries, 
and  stagnant  water,  would  soon  cause  you  to 
present  the  emaciated  appearance  that  I  do.  On 
your  route,  call  upon  the  secession  sympathiz 
ers,  and  compel  them  to  furnish  you  with  better 
and  more  substantial  food.  My  horse  I  left  at 
Tupelo.  He  is  a  valuable  animal.  The  rebel 
General  Hardee,  in  the  true  spirit  of  secession, 
appropriated — that  is,  stole — him.  However,  I 
did  not  call  to  demand  him  when  I  left.  Being 
in  haste,  I  did  not  choose  to  spare  the  time,  and 
leaving  in  the  night,  I  did  not  wish  to  disturb 
the  slumbers,  of  the  Tupelonians.  He  is  a 
bright  bay.  If  you  meet  with  him,  you  may 
have  him  for  nothing.  I  would  much  prefer 
that  he  serve  the  Federal  army. 

If  you  take  General  Jordan  prisoner,  send 
me  word,  and  I  will  furnish  you  with  the  iron 
bands  that  he  put  on  me,  by  which  you  may 
secure  him  till  he  meets  the  just  award  of  his 
crimes,  which  would  be  death,  for  destroying 
the  lives  of  so  many  Union  men. 

I  hope  that  you  may  soon  plant  the  stars  and 
stripes  on  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  207 

play  the  "Star-spangled  Banner"  within  hear 
ing  of  its  vertiginous  billows,  after  having  con 
quered  every  foe  to  the  permanence  of  the  glo 
rious  Union.  I  close  with  the  sentiment  of  the 
immortal  Jackson,  which  I  wish  you  to  bear 
constantly  in  mind,  in  your  victorious  pro 
gress — "The  Federal  Union — it  must  and  shall 
be  preserved!"  Eelying  upon  the  God  of 
battles,  rest  assured  that  the  right  cause  will 
triumph,  and  that  after  having  secured  the  great 
object  of  your  warfare,  the  preservation  of  the 
Union,  your  children  and  your  children's  chil 
dren  will  rise  up  and  call  you  blessed,  rejoicing 
in  the  enjoyment  of  a  free,  united,  and  happy 
country. 

Wishing  you  abundant  success,  I  beg  leave 
to  retire. 

On  Saturday,  the  2d  of  August,  1862,  we 
left  Kienzi,  en  route  for  the  North,  in  company 
with  William  H.  Hubbard,  Esq.,  and  family, 
who  were  also  refugees.  From  the  moment  I 
reached  the  Federal  lines  I  experienced  nothing 
but  kindness.  I  could  not  mention  all  who  are 


208  THE  IRON  FURNACE;   OR 

deserving  of  thanks  from  myself  and  family.  I 
am  under  special  obligations  to  Generals  Nel 
son,  Rosecrans,  Granger,  Davis,  and  Asboth; 
also  to  Colonel  Bryner  and  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Thrush,  of  the  Forty-seventh  Illinois,  and  Sur 
geon  Lucas,  of  same  regiment,  and  to  Dr.  Hoi- 
ley,  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Illinois  Volunteers ;  to 
Josiah  King,  Esq.,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylva 
nia;  and  Dr.  McCook,  of  Steubenville,  Ohio; 
also  Mrs.  Ann  "Wheelwright,  of  Newburyport, 
Massachusetts,  whose  kind  letter  will  ever  be 
remembered,  and  whose  "material  aid"  entitles 
her  to  lasting  gratitude;  and  to  Rev.  George 
Potts,  D.  D.,  of  New  York;  anft  Mr.  William 
E.  Dubois,  of  Philadelphia ;  Kev.  Dr.  Sprole, 
Newburgh,  New  York ;  Rev.  N.  Hewitt,  D.  D., 
Bridgeport,  Connecticut;  and  Rev.  F.  N.  Ewing, 
Chicago,  Illinois ;  Rev.  J.  M.  Krebs,  D.  D.,  New 
York ;  Rev.  A.  D.  Smith,  D.  D.,  New  York ; 
and  Rev.  F.  Reck  Harbaugh,  Philadelphia,  and 
many  others. 

Before  closing  this  chapter  I  would  mention 
the  following  incident : 

On  Wednesday  evening,  November  19th,  I 


SLAVEKY  AND  SECESSION.  209 

addressed  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia  at  the 
Sixth  Presbyterian  Church,  (Rev.  F.  Reck 
Harbaugh's.)  A  report  of  this  address  found 
its  way  into  the  city  papers.  Two  days  after 
wards,  while  in  conversation  with  Mr.  Martien, 
at  his  book-store,  two  soldiers  entered,  one  of 
whom  approached,  and  thus  addressed  me ; 

"  Do  you  know  me,  sir  ?" 

I  replied :  "  Your  face  is  familiar,  but  I  do 
not  remember  your  name.  It  is  my  misfortune 
not  to  be  able  to  remember  proper  names." 

"I  read  the  report  of  your  address  in  the 
•newspaper,  and  through  the  aid  of  my  comrade, 
I  have  succeeded  in  finding  you.  We  have  met 
before,  at  Tupelo." 

At  the  mention  of  Tupelo,  I  immediately 
recognised  in  the  speaker  the  man  who,  after 
labouring  with  the  .others  in  sundering  my 
chain,  engaged  the  guard,  who  sat  in  the  door 
way,  in  conversation,  while  I  watched  an 
opportunity  to  disappear  under  the  prison. 
Grasping  him  warmly  by  the  hand,  I  said:  "I 
now  recognise  you.  You  are  Mr.  Howell  Trog- 
don,  of  Missouri,  late  my  fellow-prisoner  in 
18* 


210  THE  IKON   FURNACE;   OR 

Tupelo.  How  and  when  did  you  succeed  in 
leaving  that  prison  ?" 

"  Being  a  Federal  prisoner,  I  was  removed 
from  Tupelo  to  Mobile,  and  there  parolled  on 
the  26th  of  August  last." 

"When  was  I  missed  after  my  escape,  and 
how  did  the  officers  act  when  they  learned  that 
I  was  gone  ?" 

"You  were  missed  at  roll-call,  the  next 
morning,  and  in  a  short  time,  many  officers 
came  into  the  prison.  They  were  greatly 
enraged  at  this,  your  second  flight.  The 
prisoners  were  closely  questioned  as  to  their 
complicity  in  your  escape,  but  they  denied  all 
knowledge  of  the  matter.  Soon  all  the  prison- 
guards  on  duty  during  the  night,  thirty -three 
in  number,  were  brought  into  the  prison  in 
chains.  The  cavalry  was  ordered  out  in  search 
of  you,  and  directed  to  shoot  you  down  where- 
ever  found.  The  mode  of  your  escape  was  not 
discovered,  and  the  officers  were  of  the  opinion 
that  you  had  bribed  the  guards.  From  that 
time,  the  officers  became  more  cruel  than  ever,  and 
in  two  weeks,  thirty -two  of  our  fellow -prisoners 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  211 

were  taken  out  and  shot!  We  never  learned 
whether  you  had  succeeded  in  escaping  to  the 
Union  lines.  We  feared  that  you  were  over 
taken  and  shot,  or  that  you  perished  in  the 
swamps  from  hunger,  thirst,  and  fatigue.  I 
hope  soon  to  see  McHatten,  Speer,  De  Grum- 
mond,  and  Soper,  who  are  also  parolled,  and 
they  will  rejoice  to  learn  that  you  still  live. 
During  the  night  of  your  escape,  we  slept  but 
little,  through  fear  that  our  chaplain  might  be 
shot  by  the  guards,  and  I  assure  you  many 
fervent  prayers  ascended  to  Heaven  for  your 
safety." 


212  THE   IKON   FURNACE;   OR 


CHAPTER    VII. 

SOUTHERN  CLASSES— CRUELTY  TO  SLAVES. 

Sandhillers — Dirt-eating — Dipping — Their  Mode  of  Living — 
Patois — Rain-book — Wife- trade — Coming  in  to  see  the 
Cars — Superstition — Marriage  of  Kinsfolk  — Hardshell 
Sermon — Causes  which  lead  to  the  Degradation  of  this 
Class — Efforts  to  Reconcile  the  Poor  Whites  to  the  Pecu 
liar  Institution— The  Slaveholding  Class— The  Middle 
Class — Northern  Isms — Incident  at  a  Methodist  Minister's 
House — Question  asked  a  Candidate  for  Licensure — Rea 
son  of  Southern  Hatred  toward  the  North — Letter  to  Mr. 
Jackman — Barbarities  and  Cruelties  of  Slavery — Mulat- 
toes — Old  Cole — Child  Born  at  Whipping-post — Advertise 
ment  of  a  Keeper  of  Bloodhounds — Getting  Rid  of  Free 
Blacks — The  Doom  of  Slavery — Methodist  Church  South. 

THE  sojourner  in  the  Slave  States  is  struck  with 
the  wretched  and  degraded  appearance  of  a 
class  of  people  called  by  the  slaveholders, 
"poor  white  folks,"  and  "the  tallow-faced  gen 
try,"  from  their  pallid  complexion.  They  live 
in  wretched  hovels,  dress  slatternly,  and  are 
exceedingly  filthy  in  their  habits.  Many  of 
them  are  clay  or  dirt-eaters,  which  is  said  to 
cause  their  peculiar  complexion.  Their  chil- 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION".  213 

dren,  at  a  very  early  age,  form  this  filthy  and 
disgusting  habit;  and  mere  infants  may  be 
found  with  their  mouths  filled  with  dirt.  The 
mud  with  which  they  daub  the  interstices 
between  the  logs  of  their  rude  domicils,  must 
be  frequently  renewed,  as  the  occupants  pick  it 
all  out  in  a  very  short  time,  and  eat  it.  This 
pernicious  practice  induces  disease.  The  com 
plexion  becomes  pale,  similar  to  that  occasioned 
by  chronic  ague  and  fever. 

Akin  to  this  is  the  practice  of  snuff- dipping, 
which  is  not  confined  exclusively  to  females  of 
the  poor  white  caste,  though  scarcely  one  in 
fifty  of  this  class  is  exempt  from  the  disgusting 
habit.  The  method  is  this :  The  female  snuff- 
dipper  takes  a  short  stick,  and  wetting  it  with 
her  saliva,  dips  it  into  her  snuff-box,  and  then 
rubs  the  gathered  dust  all  about  her  mouth, 
and  into  the  interstices  of  her  teeth,  where  she 
allows  it  to  remain  until  its  strength  has  been 
fully  absorbed.  Others  hold  the  stick  thus 
loaded  with  snuff  in  the  cheek,  a  la  quid  of 
tobacco,  and  suck  it  with  a  decided  relish, 
while  engaged  in  their  ordinary  avocations; 


21-i  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

while  others  simply  fill  the  mouth  with  the 
snuff',  and  imitate,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
the  chewing  propensities  of  the  men.  In  the 
absence  of  snuff,  tobacco  in  the  plug  or  leaf  is 
invariably  resorted  to  as  a  substitute.  Oriental 
betel-chewing,  and  the  Japanese  fashion  of 
blacking  the  teeth  of  married  ladies,  are  the 
height  of  elegance  compared  with  snuff-dipping. 
The  habit  leads  to  a  speedy  decay  of  the  teeth, 
and  to  nervous  disorders  of  every  kind.  Those 
who  indulge  in  it  become  haggard  at  a  very 
early  age. 

The  Petersburg  (Ya.)  Express  estimates  the 
number  of  women  in  that  State  as  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  thousand,  one  hundred  thou 
sand  of  whom  are  snuff-dippers.  Every  five 
of  these  will  use  a  two-ounce  paper  of  snuff 
per  day ;  that  is,  to  the  hundred  thousand  dip 
pers,  two  thousand  five  hundred  pounds  a  day, 
amounting,  in  one  year,  to  the  enormous  quan 
tity  of  nine  hundred  and  twelve  thousand 
pounds.  This  practice  prevails  generally,  it 
says,  among  the  poor  whites,  though  some 
females  of  the  higher  classes  are  guilty  of  it. 


SLAVEKY  AND  SECESSION.  215 

The  poor  whites  obtain  their  subsistence,  as 
far  as  practicable,  in  the  primitive  aboriginal 
mode,  viz.,  by  hunting  and  fishing.  When  these 
methods  fail  to  afford  a  supply,  they  cultivate  a 
truck-patch,  and  some  of  them  raise  a  bale  or 
two  of  cotton,  with  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of 
which  they  buy  whiskey,  tobacco,  and  a  few 
necessary  articles.  When  all  other  methods 
fail,  they  resort  to  stealing,  to  which  many  of 
them  are  addicted  from  choice,  as  well  as  from 
necessity.  They  are  exceeding  slovenly  in 
their  habits,  cleanliness  being  a  rare  virtue. 
Indolence  is  a  prevailing  vice,  and  its  lamenta 
ble  effects  are  everywhere  visible.  They  fully 
obey  the  scriptural  injunction,  take  no  thought 
for  the  morrow.  A  present  supply,  sufficient  to 
satisfy  nature's  most  urgent  demands,  being 
obtained,  their  care  ceases,  and  they  relapse 
into  listless  inactivity.  They  herd  together 
upon  the  poor  sand-hills,  the  refuse  land  of  the 
country,  which  the  rich  slaveholder  will  not 
purchase,  for  which  reason,  they  are  sometimes 
called  sand-hillers,  and  here  they  live,  and  their 
children,  and  their  children's  children,  through 


216  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

successive  generations,  in  the  same  deplorable 
condition  of  wretchedness  and  degradation. 

They  are  exceedingly  ignorant;  not  one 
adult  in  fifty  can  write ;  not  one  in  twenty  can 
read.  They  can  scarcely  be  said  to  speak  the 
English  language,  using  a  patois  which  is 
scarcely  intelligible.  An  old  lady  thus  related 
an  incident  of  which  her  daughter  "Sal"  was 
the  heroine.  "  My  darter  Sal  yisterday  sot  the 
lather  to  the  damsel  tree,  and  clim  up,  and 
knocked  some  of  the  nicest  saftest  damsels  I 
ever  seed  in  my  born  days."  I  once  called  to 
make  some  inquiry  about  the  road,  at  a  small 
log  tenement,  inhabited  by  a  sand-hiller  and 
family.  A  sheet  was  hanging  upon  the  wall, 
containing  the  portraits  of  the  Presidents  of 
the  United  States.  I  remarked  to  the  lady  of 
the  house  that  those  were,  I  believed,  the  pic 
tures  of  the  Presidents. 

"Yes!"  she  replied;  "they  is,  and  I've  hearn 
tell  of  'em  a  long  time.  They  must  be  gittin' 
mighty  old,  ef  some  of  'em  aint  dead.  That 
top  one,"  she  continued,  "  is  Gineral  Washing 
ton.  I've  hearn  of  him  ever  sence  I  was  a  gal. 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  217 

He  must  be  gittin'  up  in  years,  ef  lie  aint  dead. 
Him  and  Gineral  Jackson  fit  the  British  and 
Tories  at  New  Orleans,  and  whipped  'em,  too." 

She  seemed  to  pride  herself  greatly  on  her 
historical  knowledge. ) 

One  of  these  geniuses  once  informed  me  of 
a  peculiar  kind  of  book  "he'd  hearn  tell  on," 
that  the  Yankees  had.  He  had  forgotten  its 
name,  but  thus  described  it :  "It  told  the  day 
of  the  week  the  month  come  in  on.  It  told 
when  we  was  a  gwine  to  have  rain,  and  what 
kind  of  wether  we  was  gwine  to  have  in 
gineral.  May-be  they  call  it  a  rain-book." 

I  replied  that  I  had  heard  of  the  book,  and  I 
believed  that  it  was  called  an  Almanac. 

"You've  said  it  now,"  remarked  the  man. 
"It's  a  alminick,  and  I'd  give  half  I's  wuth  to 
have  one.  I'd  no  when  to  take  a  umberell,  and 
if  I  haddent  nary  one,  I'd  no  when  I  could  go 
a  huntin'  without  gittin'  wet." 

Two  of  these  semi-savages  had  resolved  to 

remove  to  the  West,  in  hope  of  bettering  their 

condition.    One  wished  to  remove  to  Arkansas, 

the  other  to  Texas.     The  wife  of  the  former 

19 


218  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

wished  to  go  to  Texas,  the  latter  to  Arkansas. 
The  husbands  were  desirous  of  gratifying  their 
spouses,  but  could  devise  no  plan  that  seemed 
likely  to  prove  satisfactory,  till  one  day  when 
hunting,  finding  game  scarce,  they  sat  down 
upon  a  log,  when  the  following  dialogue  took 
place : 

"  Kit,  I'm  sort  o'  pestered  about  Dilsie.  She 
swars  to  Rackensack  she'll  go,  and  no  whar 
else.  I  allers  had  a  hankerin'  arter  Texas. 
Plague  take  Kackensack,  I  say !  Ef  a  man  war 
thar,  the  ager  and  the  airthquakes  ed  shake  him 
out  on  it  quicker  en  nothin'." 

"  When  a  woman's  set  on  a  gwine  any  whar, 
they're  a  gwine.  It's  jest  no  use  to  talk.  I've 
coaxed  Minnie  more'n  a  little  to  go  long  with 
me  to  Arkansas,  and  the  more  I  coax,  the  more 
she  wont  go." 

"Well,  Kit,  'sposen  we  swap  women." 
"Well,  Sam,  what  trade'll  ye  gin?" 
"  Oh !  a  gentleman's  trade,  of  course !" 
"  Shucks,  Sam !  'sposen  I  had  a  young  filly, 
and  you  a  old  mar,  ye  wouldn't  ax  an  even 
trade,  would  ye  ?" 


SLAVERY   AND   SECESSION.  219 

"  No ;  it  'ud  be  too  hard.  I  tell  you  what 
I'll  do,  Kit.  Here's  a  shot-gun  that's  wuth  ten 
dollars,  ef  it's  wuth  a  red.  I'll  give  it  and  that 
ar  b'ar-skin  hangin'  on  the  side  of  my  shanty, 
to  boot,  and  say  it's  a  trade." 

"Nuff'  sed,  ef  the  women's  agreed." 
Home  they  went,  and  stated  the  case  to  the 
women,  who,  after  due  deliberation,  acceded  to 
the  proposition,  having  also  made  a  satisfactory 
arrangement  about  the  children,  and  they  all 
soon  went  on  their  way  rejoicing  to  their 
respective  destinations  in  that 

"American's  haven  of  eternal  rest, 
Found  a  little  farther  West." 

On  the  Sabbath  after  the  completion  of  the 
Memphis  and  Charleston  railroad,  a  large  num 
ber  of  the  sand-hillers  came  to  luka  Springs, 
to  witness  the  passing  of  the  cars.  Arriving 
too  early,  they  visited  a  church  where  divine 
service  was  progressing.  Whilst  the  minister 
was  in  the  midst  of  his  sermon,  the  locomotive 
whistle  sounded,  when  a  stampede  took  place 
to  the  railroad.  The  exodus  left  the  parson 


220  THE  IRON  FURNACE;   OB 

almost  alone  in  his  glory.  The  passing  train 
caused  the  most  extravagant  expressions  and 
gestures  of  wonder  and  astonishment  by  these 
rude  observers.  It  was  an  era  in  their  life. 

Once  while  standing  on  the  railroad-track,  I 
observed  a  crowd  of  these  people  coming  to  see 
the  "ekphant"  They  came  so  near,  that  I 
overheard  their  conversation.  One  young  lass, 
of  sweet  sixteen,  with  slattern  dress  and 
dishevelled  hair,  looking  up  the  road,  which 
was  visible  for  a  great  distance,  thus  expressed 
her  astonishment  at  what  she  saw :  "  0,  dad ! 
what  a  long  piece  of  iron  1"  Soon  the  whistle 
sounded ;  this  they  had  never  heard  before,  and 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  a  dinner- 
horn.  As  soon  as  the  cars  came  in  sight, 
they  scattered  like  frightened  sheep,  some  on 
one  side  of  the  road,  and  some  on  the  other. 
Nor  did  they  halt  till  they  had  placed  fifty 
yards  at  least  between  them  and  the  track. 

Superstition  prevails  amongst  them  to  a  fear 
ful  extent.  Almost  every  hut  has  a  horse-shoe 
nailed  above  the  door,  or  on  the  threshold,  to 
keep  out  witches.  In  sickness,  charms  and 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  221 

incantations  are  used  to  drive  away  disease. 
Their  physicians  are  chiefly  what  are  termed 
faith-doctors,  who  are  said  to  work  miraculous 
cures.  They  are  strong  believers  in  luck.  If 
a  rabbit  cross  their  path,  they  will  turn  round 
to  change  their  luck.  If,  on  setting  out  on  a 
journey,  an  owl  hoot  on  the  left  hand,  they 
will  return  and  set  out  anew.  If  the  new  moon 
is  seen  through  brush,  or  on  the  left  hand,  it  is 
a  bad  omen.  They  will  have  trouble  during 
the  lunar  month.  When  the  whippoorwill  is 
first  heard  in  the  spring,  they  turn  head  over 
heels  thrice,  to  prevent  back-ache  during  the 
year.  Dreams  are  harbingers  of  joy  or  wo. 
To  dream  of  snakes,  is  ominous.  To  dream  of 
seeing  a  coffin,  or  conversing  with  the  dead,  is 
a  sign  of  approaching  dissolution,  and  many 
have  no  doubt  perished  through  terror,  occa 
sioned  by  such  dreams.  Fortune-tellers  are 
rife  amongst  them — those  sages  whose  compre 
hensive  view  knows  the  past,  the  present,  and 
the  future.  They  seek  unto  familiar  spirits, 
that  peep  and  mutter,  for  the  living  to  the 
dead. 

19* 


222  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

They  have  many  deformed,  and  blind,  and 
deaf  among  them,  in  consequence  of  the  inter 
marriage  of  relatives.  Cousins  often  marry, 
and  occasionally  they  marry  within  the  degrees 
of  consanguinity  prohibited  by  the  law  of  God. 
Perhaps  this  divine  law  forbids  the  marriage 
of  cousins  when  it  declares,  "Thou  shalt  not 
marry  any  that  is  near  of  kin."  The  sad 
effects  on  posterity,  both  mentally  and  physi 
cally,  lead  to  the  conviction  that  if  the  law  of 
God  does  not  condemn  it,  physiological  law 
does. 

These  sand-hillers  do  not  (when  no  serious 
preventive  occurs)  fail  to  attend  the  elections, 
where  the  highest  bidder  obtains  their  vote. 
Sometimes  their  vote  will  command  cash,  and 
sometimes  only  whiskey.  It  is  sad  to  witness 
the  elective  franchise,  that  highest  and  most 
glorious  badge  of  a  freeman,  thus  prostituted. 

The  proverb  holds  good — Like  people,  like 
priest.  Their  ministers  are  ignorant,  ranting 
fanatics.  They  despise  literature,  and  every 
Sabbath  fulminate  censures  upon  an  educated 
ministry.  The  following  is  a  specimen  of  their 


SLAVEEY   AND   SECESSION.  223 

preaching.     Mr.  V is  a  Hard-shell  Baptist, 

or,  as  they  term  themselves,  "Primitive  Bap 
tists."  Entering  the  pulpit  on  a  warm  morning 
in  July,  he  will  take  off*  his  coat  and  vest,  roll 
up  his  sleeves,  and  then  begin : 

MY  BRETHERING  AND  SISTERN — I  air  a 
ignorant  man,  follered  the  plough  all  my  life, 
and  never  rubbed  agin  nary  college.  As  I 
said  afore,  I'm  ignorant,  and  I  thank  God  for 
it.  (Brother  Jones  responds,  "Passon,  yer  ort 
to  be  very  thankful,  fur  yer  very  ignorant.") 
Well,  I'm  agin  all  high  larnt  fellers  what 
preaches  grammar  and  Greek  fur  a  thousand 
dollars  a  year  They  preaches  fur  the  money, 
and  they  gits  it,  and  that's  all  they'll  git. 
They've  got  so  high  larnt  they  contradicts 
Scripter,  what  plainly  tells  us  that  the  sun 
rises  and  sets.  They  seys  it  don't,  but  that  the 
yerth  whirls  round,  like  clay  to  the  seal.  What 
ud  cum  of  the  water  in  the  wells  ef  it  did. 
Wodent  it  all  spill  out,  and  leave  'em  dry,  and 
whar  ed  we  be  ?  I  may  say  to  them,  as  the 


224  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

sarpent  said  unto  David,  much  learning  hath 
made  thee  mad. 

When  I  preaches,  I  never  takes  a  tex  till  I 
goes  inter  the  pulpit ;  then  I  preaches  a  plain 
sarment,  what  even  women  can  understand.  I 
never  premedertates,  but  what  is  given  to  me 
in  that  same  hour,  that  I  sez.  Now  I'm  a 
gwine*  ter  open  the  Bible,  and  the  first  verse  I 
sees,  I'm  a  gwine  to  take  it  for  a  tex.  (Suiting 
the  action  to  the  word,  he  opened  the  Bible, 
and  commenced  reading  and  spelling  together.) 
Man  is  f-e-a-r-f-u-1-l-y — fearfully — and  w-o-n- 
d-e-r-f-u-1-l-y — wonderfully  —  m-a-d-e  —  mad. — 
"Man  is  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made." 
(Pronounced  mad.)  Well,  it's  a  quar  tex,  but 
I  said  I's  a  gwine  to  preach  from  it,  and  I'm 
a  gwine  to  do  it.  In  the  fust  place,  I'll  divide 
my  sarment  into  three  heads.  Fust  and  fore 
most,  I  show  you  that  a  man  will  git  mad. 
2d.  That  sometimes  he'll  git  fearfully  mad ;  and 
thirdly  and  lastly,  when  thar's  lots  of  things  to 
vex  and  pester  him,  he'll  git  fearfully  and  won 
derfully  mad.  And  in  the  application  I'll 
show  you  that  good  men  sometimes  gits  mad, 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION".  225 

for  the  Posle  David  hisself,  who  rote  the  tex, 
got  mad,  and  called  all  men  liars,  and  cussed 
his  enemies,  wishen'  'em  to  go  down  quick  into 
hell;  and  Noah,  he  got  tite,  and  cussed  his 
nigger  boy  Ham,  just  like  some  drunken  mas 
ters  now  cusses  their  niggers.  But  Noah  and 
David  repented;  and  all  on  us  what  gits  mad 
must  repent,  or  the  devil  '11  git  us. 

Thus  he  ranted,  to  the  great  edification  of 
his  hearers,  who  regard  him  as  a  perfect  Boan 
erges,  to  which  title  his  stentorian  voice  would 
truly  entitle  him.  This  exordium  will  serve  as 
a  specimen  of  the  "sarment,"  as  it  continued  in 
the  same  strain  to  the  end  of  the  peroration. 

Where  there  is  no  vision,  the  people  perish. 
Such  blind  leaders  of  the  blind  are  liable,  with 
their  infatuated  followers,  to  fall  into  a  ditch 
worse  than  Bunyan's  Slough  of  Despond.  This 
minister  had  undoubtedly  run  when  he  was 
not  sent,  though  he  "had  hearn  a  call;  a  audi 
ble  voice  had,  while  he  was  a  shucken  corn, 
said  unto  him,  Preach."  Though  God  does  not 
need  men's  learning,  yet  he  has  as  little  use  for 


226  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

their  ignorance.  Learning  is  the  handmaid  of 
religion,  but  must  not  be  substituted  in  its 
stead. 

The  causes  which  induce  this  "wilderness  of 
mind"  are  patent  to  all  who  make  even  a  cur 
sory  examination.  There  is  a  tendency  in  the 
poor  to  ape  the  manners  of  the  rich.  Those 
having  slaves  to  labour  in  their  stead,  toil  not 
physically;  hence  labour  falls  into  disrepute, 
and  the  poorer  classes,  having  no  slaves  to 
work  for  them,  and  not  choosing  to  submit  to 
the  degradation  of  labour,  incur  all  the  evils 
resulting  from  idleness  and  poverty.  Igno 
rance  and  vice  of  every  kind  soon  ensue,  and  a 
general  apathy  prevails,  which  destroys  in  a 
great  measure  all  mental  and  physical  vigour. 

The  slaveholders  buy  up  all  the  fertile  lands 
to  be  cultivated  by  their  slaves ;  hence  the  poor 
are  crowded  out,  and  if  they  remain  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  place  of  their  nativity,  they 
must  occupy  the  poor  tracts  whose  sterility  does 
not  excite  the  cupidity  of  their  rich  neighbours. 
The  slaveholders'  motto  is,  -'Let  us  buy  more 
negroes  to  raise  more  cotton,  to  buy  more 


SLAVEKY  AND  SECESSION".  227 

negroes,  and  so  on  ad  infinitum.  To  raise  more 
cotton  they  must  also  buy  more  land.  Small 
farmers  are  induced  to  sell  out  to  them,  and 
move  further  west.  For  this  reason,  the  white 
population  of  the  fertile  sections  of  the  older 
slave  States  is  constantly  on  the  decrease,  while 
the  slave  population  is  as  constantly  increasing. 
Thus  the  slaveholder  often  acquires  many  square 
miles  of  land,  and  hundreds  of  human  chattels. 
He  is,  as  it  were,  set  alone  in  the  earth.  Prid 
ing  himself  upon  his  wealth,  he  will  not  send 
his  princely  sons  to  the  same  school  with  the 
poor  white  trash ;  he  either  sends  them  to  some 
distant  college  or  seminary,  or  employs  a  pri 
vate  teacher  exclusively  for  his  children.  The 
poor  whites  in  the  neighbourhood,  even  should 
they  desire  to  educate  their  children,  have  no 
means  to  pay  for  their  tuition.  Compelled  to 
live  on  poor  or  worn-out  lands,  honest  toil 
considered  degrading,  and  forced  to  submit  to 
many  inconveniences  and  disabilities  (all  the 
offices  of  honour  and  profit  being  monopolized 
by  the  slaveholders,)  through  the  workings  of 
the  "  peculiar  institution,"  they  find  it  utterly 


228  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

impossible  to  educate  their  offspring,  even  in 
the  rudiments  of  their  mother  tongue.  As 
the  power  of  slavery  increases,  their  condition 
waxes  worse  and  worse. 

The  slaveocracy  becomes  more  exacting. 
Laws  are  passed  by  the  legislature  compelling 
non-slaveholders  to  patrol  the  country  nightly, 
to  prevent  insurrections  by  the  negroes.  They 
denounce  the  law,  but  coercion  is  resorted  to, 
and  the  poor  whites  are  forced  to  obey.  When 
their  masters  call  for  them,  they  must  leave 
their  labour,  by  day  or  by  night,  patrol  the 
country,  follow  the  bloodhounds,  arrest  the 
fugitive  slave,  and  do  all  other  dirty  work 
which  their  tyrants  demand.  If  they  refuse  to 
obey,  they  are  denounced  as  abolitionists,  and 
are  in  danger  of  death  at  the  hands  of  Judge 
Lynch,  the  mildest  punishment  they  can  hope 
for  being  a  coat  of  tar  and  feathers. 

The  house-negroes  feel  themselves  several 
degrees  above  the  poor  whites,  as  they,  from 
their  opportunities  for  observation  amongst  the 
liigher  classes,  are  possessed  of  greater  informa 
tion  and  less  rusticity  than  this  less  favoured 


SLAVERY   AND   SECESSION.  229 

class.  The  poor  whites  have  no  love  for 
the  institution  of  slavery.  They  regard  it  as 
the  instrument  of  inflicting  upon  them  many 
wrongs,  and  depriving  them  of  many  rights. 
They  dare  not  express  their  sentiments  to  the 
slaveholders,  who  hold  them  completely  under 
their  power.  A.  G.  Brown,  United  States 
Senator  from  Mississippi,  to  reconcile  the  poor 
whites  to  the  peculiar  institution,  used  the 
following  arguments  in  a  speech  at  luka 
Springs,  Mississippi.  He  stated,  that  if  the 
slaves  were  liberated,  and  suffered  to  remain  in 
the  country,  the  rich  would  have  money  to 
enable  them  to  go  to  some  other  clime,  and 
that  the  poor  whites  would  be  compelled  to 
remain  amongst  the  negroes,  who  would  steal 
their  property,  and  destroy  their  lives  ;  and  if 
slavery  were  abolished,  and  the  negroes  removed 
and  colonized,  the  rich  would  take  the  poor 
whites  for  slaves,  in  their  stead,  and  reduce 
them  to  the  condition  of  the  Irish  and  Dutch 
in  the  North,  whose  condition  he  represented 
to  be  one  of  cruel  bondage.  These  statements 
had  some  effect  upon  his  auditors,  who  believed, 
20 


230  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

from  sad  experience,  that  the  rich  could  oppress 
the  poor  as  they  chose,  and  might,  in  the  con 
tingency  specified,  reduce  them  to  slavery. 
Labour  is  considered  so  degrading,  that  any 
argument,  based  upon  making  labour  compul 
sory  on  their  part,  has  its  weight.  Even  the 
beggar  despises  work.  A  sturdy  beggar  asked 
alms  at  a  house  at  which  I  was  lodging.  As 
he  appeared  to  be  a  man  of  great  physical 
strength,  he  was  advised  to  go  to  work,  and 
thus  provide  for  his  wants.  "  Work  1"  said  he, 
in  disgust ;  "  niggers  do  the  work  in  this  coun 
try" — and  retired  highly  insulted. 

This  people  form  a  distinct  class,  distin 
guished  by  as  many  characteristics  from  the 
middle  and  higher  classes  of  Southern  society, 
as  the  Jews  are  from  the  nations  amongst  whom 
they  sojourn.  The  causes  which  brought  about 
their  reduction  to  their  present  state  of  semi- 
barbarism,  must  be  removed,  ere  they  can  rise 
to  the  condition  whence  they  have  fallen. 
They  must  rise  upon  the  ruins  of  slavery. 
When  the  peculiar  institution  is  abolished, 
then,  and  not  till  then,  will  their  disabilities  be 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  231 

removed,  and  they  be  in  reality  what  they  are 
nominally — freemen. 

Slaveholders  and  their  families  form  a  dis 
tinct  class,  characterized  by  idleness,  vanity, 
licentiousness,  profanity,  dissipation,  and  tyran 
ny.  There  are  glorious  exceptions,  it  is  true, 
but  those  are  the  distinguishing  traits  of  the 
class.  The  middle  class  is  the  virtuous  class 
of  the  South.  They  are  industrious,  frugal, 
hospitable,  simple  in  their  habits,  plain  and 
unostentatious  in  their  manners.  Some  of  this 
class  are  small  slaveholders,  but  the  great 
majority  own  none.  The  gross  vices  of  the 
higher  class  are  not  found  among  them.  They 
labour  regardless  of  the  sneers  of  their  aristo 
cratic  neighbours.  Senator  Hammond,  of  South 
Carolina,  may  call  them  mudsills ;  they  regard 
it  not,  but  pursue  the  even  tenor  of  their  way. 
The  slow,  unmoving  finger  of  scorn  may  be 
pointed  at  them  by  the  sons  of  pride,  yet  they 
refuse  to  eat  the  bread  of  idleness,  and  labour 
with  their  own  hands,  that  they  may  provide 
things  honest  in  the  sight  of  all  men.  Equi 
distant  from  poverty  and  riches,  they  enjoy  the 


232  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

golden  mean,  and  immunity  from  the  tempta 
tions  incident  to  the  extremes  of  abject  poverty 
and  great  riches. 

In  the  slave  States  all  those  born  north  of 
the  "  nigger  line,"  are  denominated  Yankees. 
This  is  applied  as  a  term  of  reproach.  When 
a  southerner  is  angry  with  a  man  of  northern 
nativity,  he  does  not  fail  to  stigmatize  him  as  a 
Yankee.  The  slaveholders  manifest  considera 
ble  antipathy  against  the  Yankees,  which  has 
been  increasing  during  the  last  ten  years.  In 
1858,  the  Legislature  of  Mississippi  passed 
resolutions  recommending  non-intercourse  with 
the  "Abolition  States,"  and  requesting  the 
people  not  to  patronize  natives  of  those  States 
residing  amongst  them,  and  especially  to  dis 
countenance  Yankee  ministers  and  teachers. 
In  the  educational  notice  of  Memphis  Synodical 
College,  at  La  Grange,  Tennessee,  it  is  expressly 
stated  that  the  Faculty  are  of  southern  birth 
and  education.  The  principals  of  the  Female 
Seminaries  at  Corinth  and  luka,  Mississippi, 
give  notice  that  no  Yankee  teachers  will  be 
employed  in  those  institutions.  While  on  a 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  233 

visit  at  the  house  of  a  Methodist  clergyman, 
quite  a  number  of  ministers,  returning  from 
Conference,  called  to  tarry  for  the  night.  During 
the  evening,  one  of  them,  learning  that  I  was 
"Yankee  born,"  thus  interrogated  me:  "Why  is 
it,  sir,  that  all  kinds  of  delusions  originate  in 
the  North,  such  as  Millerism,  Mormonism, 
Spirit-rappings,  and  Abolitionism?"  To  which 
I  replied:  "The  North,  originates  everything. 
All  the  text-books  used  in  southern  schools, 
all  the  books  on  law,  physic,  and  divinity,  are 
written  and  published  north  of  Mason  &  Dix- 
on's  line.  The  South  does  not  even  print 
Bibles.  The  magnetic  telegraph,  the  locomo 
tive,  Lucifer  matches,  and  even  the  cotton-gin, 
are  all  northern  inventions.  The  South,  sir, 
has  not  sense  enough  to  invent  a  decent 
humbug.  These  humbugs  once  originated,  the 
South  is  always  well  represented  by  believers 
in  them.  I  have  known  more  men  to  go  from 
this  county  (Shelby  county,  Tennessee)  to  the 
Mormons,  than  I  have  known  to  go  from  the 
whole  State  of  Ohio." 
20* 


234  THE  IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

"When  I  had  thus  spoken,  my  inquisitor  was 
nonplussed,  and  the  laugh  went  against  him. 

"When  a  candidate  before  the  Presbytery  of 
Chickasaw,  in  Mississippi,  for  licensure,  one  of 
the  members  of  Presbytery,  learning  that  I  was 
a  "Yankee,"  asked  me  the  following  questions, 
and  received  the  following  answers : 

"  Mr.  Aughey,  when  will  the  day  of  judg 
ment  take  place?" 

"  The  Millerites  have  stated  that  the  30th  of 
June  next  will  be  the  judgment-day.  As  for 
myself,  I  have  had  no  revelation  on  the  sub 
ject,  and  expect  none." 

"  Do  you  believe  that  any  one  can  call  the 
spirits?" 

"  I  do,  sir." 

"What!  believe  that  the  spirits  can  be 
called?" 

"I  do,  sir." 

"I  will  vote,  then,  against  your  licensure,  if 
you  have  fallen  into  this  heresy  of  the  land  of 
your  nativity." 

Another  then  said : 

"Brother  Aughey,  please  explain  yourself. 


SLAVEKY   AND  SECESSION.  235 

I  know  you  do  not  believe  in  spirit-rap 
ping." 

"I  do  not,  sir,  though  I  believe,  as  I  stated, 
that  any  one  may  call  the  spirits ;  but  I  do  not 
believe  that  they  will  come  in  answer  to  the 
call." 

A  lady  once  remarked  to  me  that  she  did 
not  believe  that  a  northern  man  would  ever 
become  fully  reconciled  to  the  institution  of 
slavery,  and  that  his  influence  and  sentiments, 
whatever  might  be  his  profession  of  attachment 
to  the  peculiar  institution,  would  be  against  it. 
The  cause  of  the  general  opposition  to  northern 
men  is  their  opposition  to  slavery.  Their  testi 
mony  is  against  its  abominations  and  barbari 
ties,  and  hence  the  wish  to  impair  the  credi 
bility  of  the  witnesses. 

An  illustration  of  the  working  of  the  institu 
tion  may  be  found  in  the  following  letter : 

KOSCJUSKO,  ATTALA  COUNTY,  MISSISSIPPI,  ) 
December  25,  1861.          } 

ME.  WILLIAM  JACKMAN: 

Dear  Sir — Your  last  kind  and  truly  welcome 
letter  came  to  hand  in  due  course  of  mail.  I 


236  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

owe  you  an  apology  for  delaying  an  answer  so 
long.  My  apparent  neglect  was  occasioned  by 
no  want  of  respect  for  you ;  but  in  consequence 
of  the  disturbed  state  of  the  country,  and  diffi 
culty  of  communication  with  the  North,  I 
feared  my  reply  would  never  reach  you.  Now, 
however,  by  directing  "via  Norfolk  and  flag  of 
truce,"  letters  are  sent  across  the  lines  to  the 
North.  In  your  letter  you  desired  me,  from  this 
stand-point,  to  give  you  my  observations  of  the 
workings  of  the  peculiar  institution,  and  an 
expression  of  my  views  as  to  its  consistency 
with  the  eternal  principles  of  rectitude  and 
justice.  In  reply,  I  will  give  you  a  plain  nar 
rative  of  facts. 

On  my  advent  to  the  South,  I  was  at 
first  struck  with  the  fact  that  the  busy 
hum  of  labour  had  in  some  measure  ceased. 
What  labour  I  did  observe  progressing,  was 
done  with  little  skill,  and  mainly  by  negroes. 
I  called  upon  the  Rev.  Dr.  R.  J.  Breckmridge, 
to  whom  I  had  a  letter  of  introduction,  who 
treated  me  with  the  greatest  kindness,  inviting 
me  to  make  his  house  my  home  when  I  visited 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  237 

that  section  of  country.  On  leaving  his  house, 
he  gave  me  some  directions  as  to  the  road  I 
must  travel  to  reach  a  certain  point.  "You 
will  pass,"  said  he,  "a  blacksmith's  shop,  where 
a  one-ejred  man  is  at  work — my  property." 
The  phrase,  "  my  property,"  I  had  never  before 
heard  applied  to  a  human  being,  and  though  I 
had  never  been  taught  to  regard  the  relation 
of  master  and  slave  as  a  sinful  relation,  yet  it 
grated  harshly  upon  my  ears  to  hear  a  human 
being,  a  tradesman,  called  a  chattel;  but  it 
grated  much  more  harshly,  a  week  after  this,  to 
hear  the  groans  of  two  such  chattels,  as  they 
underwent  a  severe  flagellation,  while  chained 
to  the  whipping-post,  because  they  had,  by  half 
an  hour,  overstayed  their  time  with  their  fami 
lies  on  an  adjoining  plantation. 

The  next  peculiar  abomination  of  the  pecu 
liar  institution  which  I  observed,  was  the  licen 
tiousness  engendered  by  it.  Mr.  D.  T ,  of 

Madison  county,  Kentucky,  had  a  white  family 
of  children,  and  a  black,  or  rather  mulatto  fam 
ily.  As  his  white  daughters  married,  he  gave 
each  a  mulatto  half-sister,  as  a  waiting-girl,  or 


238  THE  IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

body-servant.  Mr.  K ,  of  "Winchester,  Ken 
tucky,  had  a  mulatto  daughter,  and  he  was  also 
the  father  of  her  child,  thus  re-enacting  Lot's  sin. 

Dr.  C ,  of  Tishomingo  county,  Mississippi, 

has  a  negro  concubine,  and  a  white  servant  to 

wait  on  her.      Mr.  B ,  of  Marshall  county, 

Mississippi,  lived  with  his  white  wife  till  he 
had  grandchildren,  some  of  whom  came  to 
school  to  me,  when  he  repudiated  his  white 
wife,  and  attached  himself  to  a  very  homely  old 
African,  who  superintends  his  household,  and 

rules  his  other  slaves  with  rigour.     Mr.  S , 

of  Tishomingo  county,  Mississippi,  has  a  negro 
concubine,  and  a  large  family  of  mulatto  chil 
dren.  He  once  brought  this  woman  to  church 
in  Rienzi,  to  the  great  indignation  of  the  white 
ladies,  who  removed  to  a  respectable  distance 
from  her. 

I  preached  recently  to  a  large  congregation 
of  slaves,  the  third  of  whom  were  as  white  as 
myself.  Some  of  them  had  red  hair  and  blue 
eyes.  If  there  are  any  marked  character 
istics  of  their  masters'  families,  the  mulatto 
slaves  are  possessed  of  these  characteristics.  I 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  239 

refer  to  physical  peculiarities,  such  as  large 
mouths,  humped  shoulders,  and  peculiar  expres 
sions  of  countenance.  I  asked  a  gentleman 
how  it  happened  that  some  of  his  slaves  had 
red  hair.  He  replied  that  he  had  a  red-headed 
overseer  for  several  years. 

I  never  knew  a  pious  overseer — never! 
There  may  be  many,  but  I  never  saw  one. 
Overseers,  as  a  class,  are  worse  than  slave 
holders  themselves.  They  are  cruel,  brutal, 
licentious,  dissipated,  and  profane.  They 
always  carry  a  loaded  whip,  a  revolver,  and 
a  Bowie-knife.  These  men  have  the  control 
of  women,  whom  they  often  whip  to  death. 

Mr.  P ,  who  resided  near  Holly  Springs, 

had  a  negro  woman  whipped  to  death  while  I 
was  at  his  house  during  a  session  of  Presbytery. 

Mr.  C ,   of  Waterford,  Mississippi,  had   a 

woman  whipped  to  death  by  his  overseer.  But 
such  cruel  scourgings  are  of  daily  occurrence. 

Colonel  H ,  a  member  of  my  church,  told 

me  yesterday  that  he  ordered  a  boy,  who  he  sup 
posed  was  feigning  sickness,  to  the  whipping 
post,  but  that  he  had  not  advanced  ten  steps 


240  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

toward  it,  when  lie  fell  dead! — and  the  servant 
was  free  from  his  master.  During  our  conver 
sation,  a  girl  passed.  "There  is  a  girl,"  said 
he,  "who  does  not  look  very  white  in  the  face, 
owing  to  exposure ;  but  when  I  strip  her  to 
whip  her,  I  find  that  she  has  a  skin  as  fair  as 

my  wife."    Mrs.  F recently  whipped  a  boy 

to  death  within  half  a  mile  of  my  residence. 
A  jury  of  inquest  returned  a  verdict  that  he 
came  to  his  death  by  cruelty ;  but  nothing  more 

was  done.     Mrs.  M and  her  daughter,  of 

Holly  Springs,  abused  a  girl  repeatedly.  She 
showed  her  bruises  to  some  of  my  acquaint 
ances,  and  they  believed  them  fatal.  She  soon 

after  died.   Mr.  S ,  a  member  of  my  church, 

has  several  maimed  negroes  from  abuse  on  the 
part  of  the  overseer. 

I  am  residing  on  the  banks  of  the  Yock-a- 
nookany,  which  means  "meandering,"  when 
translated  from  the  Indian  tongue.  In  this 
vicinity  there  are  large  plantations,  cultivated 
by  hundreds  of  negroes.  The  white  population 
is  sparse.  Every  night  the  negroes  are  brought 
to  a  judgment-seat.  The  overseer  presides. 


SLAVERY   AND   SECESSION.  241 

If  they  have  not  laboured  to  suit  him,  or  if 
their  task  is  unfulfilled,  they  are  chained  to  a 
post,  and  severely  whipped.  The  victims  are 
invariably  stripped;  to  what  extent,  is  at  the 
option  of  the  overseer.  In  Louisiana,  women, 
preparatory  to  whipping,  are  often  stripped  to 

a  state  of  perfect  nudity.     Old  Mr.  C ,  of 

"Waterford,  Mississippi,  punished  his  negroes 
by  slitting  ilw  soles  of  their  feet  with  his  JBowie- 
knifef  One  man  he  put  into  a  cotton-press, 
and  turned  the  screw  till  life  was  extinct. 
He  stated  that  he  only  intended  to  alarm 
the  man,  but  carried  the  joke  too  far.  I 
have  heard  women  thus  plead,  in  piteous 
accents,  when  chained  to  the  whipping-post, 
and  stripped:  "0,  my  God,  master!  don't 
whip  me !  I  was  sick !  indeed  I  was  sick !  I 
had  a  chill,  and  the  fever  is  on  me  now!  I 
haven't  tasted  a  morsel  to-day !  You  know  I 
works  when  I  is  well !  0  for  God's  sake  don't 
whip  a  poor  sick  nigger !  My  poor  chile's  sick 
too !  Missis  thinks  it's  a  dyin' !  0  master,  for 
the  love  of  God,  don't  cut  a  poor  distressed 
woman  wid  your  whip !  I'll  try  to  do  better, 
21 


242  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

ef  you'll  only  let  me  off  this  once!"  These 
piteous  plaints  only  rouse  the  ire  of  their  cruel 
task-masters,  who  sometimes  knock  them  down 
in  the  midst  of  their  pleadings.  I  have  known 
an  instance  of  a  woman  giving  birth  to  a  child 
at  the  whipping-post.  The  fright  and  pain 
brought  on  premature  labour. 

One  beautiful  Sabbath  morning  I  stood  on 
the  levee  at  Baton  Eouge,  Louisiana,  and 
counted  twenty-seven  sugar-houses  in  full  blast. 
I  found  that  the  negroes  were  compelled  to 
labour  eighteen  hours  per  day,  and  were  not 
permitted  to  rest  on  the  Sabbath  during  the 
rolling  season.  The  negroes  on  most  planta 
tions  have  a  truck-patch,  which  they  cultivate 
on  the  Sabbath.  I  have  pointed  out  the  sin  of 
thus  labouring  on  the  Sabbath,  but  they  plead 
necessity;  their  children,  they  state,  must  suffer 
from  hunger  if  they  did  not  cultivate  their 
truck-patch,  and  their  masters  would  not  give 
them  time  on  any  other  day. 

Negroes,  by  law,  are  prohibited  from  learn 
ing  to  read.  This  law  was  not  strictly  enforced 
in  Tennessee  and  some  other  States  till  within 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  243 

a  few  years  past.  I  had  charge  of  a  Sabbath- 
school  for  the  instruction  of  blacks  in  Mem 
phis,  Tennessee,  in  1853.  This  school  was  put 
down  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  law  in  a  short 
time  after  my  connection  with  it  ceased.  In 
Mississippi,  a  man  who  taught  slaves  to  read 
or  write  would  be  sent  to  the  penitentiary 
instanter.  The  popular  plea  for  this  wicked 
ness  is,  that  if  they  were  taught  to  read,  they 
would  read  abolition  documents;  and  if  they 
were  taught  to  write,  they  would  write  them 
selves  passes,  and  pass  northward  to  Canada. 

Such  advertisements  as  the  following  often 
greet  the  eye. 

"Kansas  War.  —  The  under sind  taks  this 
method  of  makkin  it  noan  that  he  has  got  a 
pack  of  the  best  nigger  hounds  in  the  South. 
My  hounds  is  well  trand,  and  I  has  had  much 
experience  a  huntin  niggers,  having  follered  it 
for  the  last  fiften  year.  I  will  go  anywhar  that 
I'm  sent  for,  and  will  ketch  niggers  at  the  fol- 
lerin  raits. 

"My  raits  fur  ketchin  runaway  niggers  $10 
per  hed,  ef  they's  found  in  the  beat  whar  thar 


244  THE  IROK  FURNACE;   OB 

master  lives ;  $15  if  they's  found  in  the  county, 
and  $50  if  they's  tuck  out  on  the  county. 

"IS".  B. — Pay  is  due  when  the  nigger  is  tuck. 
Planters  ort  to  send  fur  me  as  soon  as  thar 
niggers  runs  away,  while  thar  trak  is  fresh." 

Every  night  the  woods  resound  with  the 
deep-mouthed  baying  of  the  bloodhounds.  The 
slaves  are  said  by  some  to  love  their  masters ; 
but  it  requires  the  terrors  of  bloodhounds  and 
the  fugitive  slave  law  to  keep  them  in  bond 
age.  You  in  the  North  are  compelled  to  act 
the  part  of  the  bloodhounds  here,  and  catch  the 
fugitives  for  the  planters  of  the  South.  Free 
negroes  are  sold  into  bondage  for  the  most 
trivial  offences.  Slaveholders  declare  that  the 
presence  of  free  persons  of  colour  exerts  a  per 
nicious  influence  upon  their  slaves,  rendering 
them  discontented  with  their  condition,  and 
inspiring  a  desire  for  freedom.  They  there 
fore  are  very  desirous  of  getting  rid  of  these 
persons,  either  by  banishing  them  from  the 
State  or  enslaving  them.  The  legislature  of 
Mississippi  has  passed  a  law  for  their  expul 
sion,  and  other  States  have  followed  in  the 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  245 

wake.  The  Governor  of  Missouri  has  vetoed 
the  law  for  the  expulsion  of  free  persons  of 
colour,  passed  by  the  legislature  of  that  State 
because  of  its  unconstitutionally. 

Were  I  to  recount  all  the  abominations  of 
the  peculiar  institution,  and  the  wrongs  inflicted 
upon  the  African  race,  that  have  come  under 
my  observation,  they  would  fill  a  large  volume. 
Slavery  is  guilty  of  six  abominations;  yea,  * 
seven  may  justly  be  charged  upon  it.  It  is 
said  that  the  negro  is  lazy,  and  will  not  work 
except  by  compulsion.  I  have  known  negroes 
who  have  purchased  their  freedom  by  the  pay 
ment  of  a  large  sum,  and  afterward  made  not 
only  a  good  living,  but  a  fortune  beside.  It  is 

said  Judge  W of  South  Carolina  gave  his 

servants  the  use  of  his  plantation,  upon  con 
dition  that  they  would  support  his  family ;  and 
that  in  three  years  he  was  compelled  to  take 
the  management  himself,  as  they  did  not  make 
a  comfortable  living  for  themselves  and  the 
Judge's  family.  In  reply,  it  might  be  said  that 
the  negroes  had  not  a  fair  trial,  as  no  one  had 
any  property  he  could  call  his  own,  and  they 
21* 


246 

were  thrown  into  a  sort  of  Fourierite  society, 
having  all  things  in  common.  In  this  state  of 
things,  while  some  would  work,  others  would 
be  idle.  White  men  do  not  succeed  in  such 
communities,  and  for  this  reason  it  was  no  fair 

test  of  the  industrial  energies  of  Judge  W 's 

slaves. 

The  question  is  often  asked,  is  slavery  sinful 
in  itself?  My  observation  has  been  extensive, 
embracing  eight  slave  States,  and  I  have  never 
yet  seen  any  example  of  slavery  that  I  did  not 
deem  sinful.  If  slavery  is  not  sinful  in  itself, 
I  must  have  always  seen  it  out  of  itself.  I 
have  observed  its  workings  during  eleven 
years,  amongst  a  professedly  Christian  people, 
and  cannot  do  otherwise  than  pronounce  it 
an  unmitigated  curse.  It  is  a  curse  to  the 
white  man,  it  is  a  curse  to  the  black  man. 
That  God  will  curse  it,  and  blot  it  out  of 
existence  ere  long,  is  my  firm  conviction.  The 
elements  of  its  abolition  exist;  God  speed  the 
time  when  they  will  be  fully  developed,  and 
this  mother  of  abominations  driven  from  the 
land  of  the  free!  The  development  of  the 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  247 

eternal  principles  of  justice  and  rectitude  will 
abolish  this  hoary  monster  of  fraud  and  oppres 
sion.  Slavery  subverts  all  the  rights  of  man. 
It  divests  him  of  citizenship,  of  liberty,  of  the 
pursuit  of  happiness,  of  his  children,  of  his 
wife,  of  his  property,  of  intellectual  culture, 
reserving  to  him  only  the  rights  of  the  horse 
and  ass,  and  reducing  him  to  the  same  chattel 
condition  with  them.  Not  a  single  right  does 
the  State  law  grant  him  above  that  of  the  mule 
— no,  not  one.  The  chastity  of  the  slave 
has  no  legal  protection.  The  Methodist  Church 
South  is  expunging  from  the  discipline  every 
thing  inimical  to  the  peculiar  institution, 
whilst  I  observe  that  the  Church  North 
is  adding  to  her  testimony  and  deliverances 
against  the  sin  of  slaveholding.  The  Church 
South  refused  to  abide  by  the  rules  of  the 
Church,  and  hence  the  guilt  of  the  schism  lies 
with  her,  and  you  are  henceforth  free  from  any 
guilt  in  conniving  at  the  sin  which  the  founder 
of  your  church,  the  illustrious  "Wesley,  regarded 
as  the  "sum  of  all  villany." 

Remember  me  kindly  to  Mrs.  Jackman  and 


24:8  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

family.     Hoping  to  hear  from  you  soon,  I  be< 
leave  to  subscribe  myself, 

Yours  fraternally, 

JOHN  H.  AUGHEY. 

To  Mr.  William  Jackman, 
Amsterdam,  Jefferson  Co.,  Ohio. 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  249 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

NOTORIOUS  REBELS.— UNION  OFFICERS. 

Colonel  Jefferson  Davis — His  Speech  at  Holly  Springs,  Mis 
sissippi — His  Opposition  to  Yankee  Teachers  and  Minis 
ters — A  bid  for  the  Presidency — His  Ambition — Burr, 
Arnold,  Davis. — General  Beauregard — Headquarters  at 
Rienzi — Colonel  Elliott's  Raid — Beauregard's  Consterna 
tion — Personal  description — His  illness — Popularity  wan 
ing. — Rev.  Dr.  Palmer  of  New  Orleans — His  influence — 
The  Cincinnati  Letter — His  Personal  Appearance — His 
Denunciations  of  General  Butler — His  Radicalism. — Rev. 
Dr.  Waddell  of  La  Grange,  Tennessee — His  Prejudices 
against  the  North — President  of  Memphis  Synodical  Col 
lege — His  Talents  prostituted. — Union  Officers — General 
Nelson — General  Sherman. 

COLONEL  JEFFERSON   DAVIS. 

IN  1856  I  heard  Colonel  Jefferson  Davis  deliver 
an  address  at  Holly  Springs,  Mississippi.  The 
Colonel  is  about  a  medium  height,  of  slender 
frame,  his  nose  aquiline,  his  hair  dark,  his 
manners  polite.  He  is  no  orator.  His  speech 
was  principally  a  tirade  of  abuse  against  the 
North,  bitterly  inveighing  against  the  crni- 


250  THE  IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

grant  aid  societies  which  had  well-nigh  put 
Kansas  upon  the  list  of  free  States.  He  advised 
the  people  to  employ  no  more  Yankee  teachers. 
He  had  been  educated  in  the  North,  and  he 
regarded  it  as  the  greatest  misfortune  of  his 
life.  Soon  after  Colonel  Davis  visited  New 
England,  where  he  eulogized  that  section  in  an 
extravagant  manner.  He  was  pleased  with 
everything  he  saw;  even  "Noah  Webster's 
Yankee  spelling-book"  received  a  share  of  the 
Colonel's  fulsome  flattery.  On  his  return  to 
the  South,  "  a  change  came  o'er  the  spirit  of  his 
dream,"  and  his  bile  and  bitterness  against 
Yankee-land  returned  in  all  its  pristine  vigour. 
The  Colonel  was  making  a  bid  for  the  Presi 
dency;  but  New  England  was  not  so  easily 
gulled;  his  flimsy  professions  of  friendship 
were  too  transparent  to  hide  the  hate  which  lay 
beneath,  and  his  aspirations  were  doomed  to 
disappointment. 

Though  Colonel  Davis  is  often  called  Missis 
sippi's  pet,  yet  he  is  not  regarded  as  a  truthful 
man,  and  his  reports  and  messages  are  received 


SLAVEEY   AND  SECESSION.  251 

with  considerable  abatement  by  "the  chivalry." 
His  ambition  knows  no  bounds.  He  would 
rather  "  reign  in  hell  than  serve  in  heaven." 

Had  Jefferson  Davis  been  elected  President 
of  the  United  States,  he  would  have  been 
among  the  last  instead  of  the  first  to  favour 
secession.  Had  he  been  slain  on  the  bloody 
fields  of  Mexico,  his  memory  would  have  been 
cherished.  History  will  assign  him  a  place 
among  the  infamous.  Burr,  Arnold,  and 
Davis  will  be  names  for  ever  execrated  by 
true  patriots.  The  two  former  died  a  natural 
death,  though  the  united  voice  of  their  coun 
trymen  would  have  approved  of  their  execu 
tion  on  the  gallows.  The  fate  of  the  latter  lies 
still  in  the  womb  of  futurity,  though  his  loyal 
countrymen,  without  a  dissenting  voice,  declare 
that  he  deserves  a  felon's  doom.  An  announce 
ment  of  his  death  would  suffuse  no  patriot's 
eye  with  tears.  What  loyalist  would  weep 
while  he  read  the  news-item— the  arch  traitor 
Jeff.  Davis  is  dead. 


252  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

GENERAL   G.   T.   BEAUREGARD. 

I  met  General  Beauregard  under  very  pecu 
liar  circumstances.  I  had  gone  to  Rienzi  for 
the  purpose  of  escaping  to  the  Federal  lines  for 
protection  from  the  rigorous  and  sweeping 
conscript  law.  When  I  arrived,  I  found  the 
rebels  evacuating  Corinth,  and  their  sick  and 
wounded  passing  down  the  Mobile  and  Ohio 
railroad  to  the  hospitals  below.  General 
Beauregard  had  just  arrived  in  Rienzi,  and 
had  his  headquarters  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
Sutherland.  A  rumour  had  spread  through 
Rienzi  that  General  Beauregard  had  ordered 
the  women  and  children  to  leave  the  town. 
Many  of  them,  believing  that  the  order  had 
been  issued,  were  hastening  into  the  country. 
In  order  to  confirm  or  refute  the  statement,  I 
called  upon  General  Beauregard,  and  asked 
him  whether  he  had  issued  such  an  order.  He 
replied,  "I  have  issued  no  such  order,  sir." 
Just  at  that  moment  a  courier  arrived  with  the 
information  that  the  Yankees  had  attacked  the 
advance  of  their  retreating  army  at  Boonville, 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  253 

that  they  had  destroyed  the  depot,  and  taken 
many  prisoners.  The  General  told  the  courier 
that  he  must  be  mistaken;  that  it  was  impos 
sible  for  the  Yankees  to  pass  around  his  army. 
While  he  was  yet  speaking  a  citizen  arrived 
from  Boonville,  confirming  the  statement  of 
the  courier.  Beauregard  was  still  incredulous, 
replying  that  they  must  have  mistaken  the 
Confederates  for  the  Yankees.  In  a  few  min 
utes  the  explosion  of  shells  shook  the  building. 
The  General  then  thought  that  it  might  be  true 
that  the  Yankees  had  passed  around  the  army; 
but  on  hearing  the  shells,  he  stated  that  Gene 
ral  Green  (of  Missouri)  was  driving  them  away 
with  his  cannon.  The  truth  was  soon  ascer 
tained  by  the  arrival  of  several  couriers.  Col. 
Elliott,  of  the  Federal  army,  had  made  a  raid 
upon  Boonville,  had  fired  the  depot,  and 
destroyed  a  large  train  of  cars  filled  with 
ammunition.  The  explosions  of  the  shells 
which  we  heard  was  occasioned  by  the  fire 
reaching  the  cars  in  which  these  shells  were 
stored.  The  Colonel  also  destroyed  the  rail- 
22 


254  THE   IRON    FURNACE;   OR 

road  to  such  an  extent  that  it  required  several 
days  to  repair  the  track. 

General  Beauregard  is  below  the  medium 
height,  and  has  a  decidedly  French  expression 
of  countenance.  His  hair  is  quite  gray,  though 
a  glance  at  his  face  will  convince  the  observer 
that  it  is  prematurely  so.  The  General  is 
regarded  as  taciturn.  His  countenance  is  care 
worn  and  haggard.  During  the  winter  of 
1861-2,  he  was  attacked  with  bronchitis  and 
typhoid  pneumonia,  and  came  near  dying; 
and  had  not,  at  my  interview,  by  any  means 
recovered  his  pristine  health  and  vigour.  His 
prestige  as  an  able  commander  is  rapidly  wan 
ing.  For  some  time  his  military  talents  were 
considered  of  the  first  order;  now  a  third-rate 
position  is  assigned  him.  He  is  still  regarded 
as  a  first-class  engineer.  When  General  Ster 
ling  Price  arrived  at  Corinth,  General  Beaure 
gard  conducted  him  around  all  the  fortifica 
tions,  explaining  their  nature  and  unfolding 
their  strength ;  but  no  word  of  approval  could 
he  elicit  from  the  Missouri  General.  At  length 
he  ventured  to  ask  what  he  thought  of  their 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  255 

capacity  for  resisting  an  attack.  General  Price 
replied,  "  They  may  prove  effective  in  resisting 
an  attack.  These  are  the  second  fortifications 
I  ever  saw;  the  first  I  captured."  He  had 
reference  to  Colonel  Mulligan's,  at  Lexington, 
Missouri.  Sumter  and  Manassas  gave  Beaure- 
gard  fame.  Since  the  latter  battle  his  star  has 
declined  steadily ;  and  if  the  Federal  generals 
prove  themselves  competent,  it  will  soon  go  out 
in  total  darkness,  and  the  world's  verdict  will 
be,  it  was  a  misfortune  that  Beauregard  lived. 

REV.   DR.   B.   M.   PALMER. 

Dr.  Palmer  has  done  more  than  any  non- 
combatant  in  the  South  to  promote  the  rebel 
lion.  He  was  accessory  both  before  and  after 
the  fact.  His  sermons  are  nearly  all  abusive 
of  the  North.  The  mudsills  of  Yankeedom 
and  the  scum  of  Europe  are  phrases  of  frequent 
use  in  his  public  addresses,  and  they  are  meant 
to  include  all  living  north  of  what  is  more 
familiarly  than  elegantly  termed  in  the  South 
the  "  nigger  line,"  although  the  North  is  the 
land  of  his  parental  nativity. 


256  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OB 

A  few  years  ago,  Dr.  Palmer  wrote  to  a 
friend  in  Cincinnati  respecting  a  vacant  church, 
in  which  he  gave  as  one  reason,  among  others, 
for  desiring  to  come  North,  that  he  wished  to 
remove  his  family  from  the  baleful  influences 
of  slavery.  That  letter  still  exists,  and  ought 
to  be  published. 

Dr.  Palmer's  personal  appearance  is  by  no 
means  prepossessing.  lie « is  small  of  stature, 
of  very  dark  complexion,  dish-faced.  His  nose 
is  said  to  have  been  broken  when  a  child;  at 
all  events,  it  is  a  deformity.  He  is  fluent  in 
speech,  has  a  vivid  imagination,  and  has  a 
great  influence  over  a  promiscuous  congrega 
tion. 

After  the  reduction  of  Forts  Jackson  and  St. 
Philip,  and  the  capture  of  New  Orleans,  Dr. 
Palmer  came  to  Corinth,  where  he  preached  to 
the  rebel  army.  His  text  was  invariably  Gene 
ral  Butler's  "women-of-the-town  order,"  which 
we  fully  believe  he  intentionally  misconstrued. 
The  conservation  and  extension  of  slavery  is  a 
matter  which  lies  near  the  Doctor's  heart.  He 
urged  secession  for  the  purpose  of  extending 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  257 

and  perpetuating  for  ever  the  peculiar  institu 
tion.  His  views,  however,  must  have  under 
gone  a  radical  change  since  the  writing  of  the 
Cincinnati  letter,  as  he  then  regarded  slavery 
with  little  favour.  Love  of  public  favour  may 
have  much  to  do  with  his  recently  expressed 
views,  for  no  true  Christian  and  patriot  can 
wish  to  perpetuate  and  extend  an  institution 
founded  on  the  total  subversion  of  the  rights 
of  man. 

REV.   DR.  JOHN  N.  WADDELL. 

Dr.  Waddell  is  a  man  of  considerable  talent, 
but  his  prejudices  are  very  strong  against  the 
North.  He  cordially  hates  a  Yankee,  and  his 
poor  distressed  wife,  who  was  a  native  of  New 
England,  was  compelled  to  return  to  her  home, 
where  she  mourns  in  virtual  widowhood  her 
unfortunate  connection  with  a  man  who  detests 
her  land  and  people.  Dr.  "WaddelFs  sermons 
are  very  abusive.  The  North  is  the  theme  of 
animadversion  in  all  the  published  sermons 
and  addresses  I  have  seen  from  his  prolific 
pen.  He  has  prostituted  his  fine  talents,  and 
22* 


258  THE   IRON  FURNACE;   OR 

his  writings  are  full  of  cursing  and  bitterness. 
As  President  of  La  Grange  College,  Tennessee, 
he  might  wield  a  great  influence  for  good — an 
influence  which  would  tend  to  calm  the  storm 
aroused  by  demagogues,  rather  than  increase 
its  power.  His  memory  will  rot,  for  the  evil 
which  he  has  done  will  live  after  him. 

MAJOR-GENERAL  WILLIAM  NELSON. 

I  met  General  Nelson  frequently  at  his  head 
quarters  at  luka  Springs,  Mississippi.  Though 
the  General  was  quite  brusque  in  his  manners, 
yet  he  always  treated  me  with  kindness  and 
marked  attention.  Once  while  seated  at  the 
table  with  him,  several  guests  being  present, 
the  following  colloquy  ensued. 

"Parson  Aughey,  I  suppose  you  are  well 
versed  in  the  Scriptures,  and  in  order  to  test 
your  knowledge,  permit  me  to  ask  a  question, 
which  doubtless  you  are  able  to  answer." 

"  Certainly,  General,  you  have  permission  to 
ask  the  question  you  propose.  I  am  not  so 
sure,  however,  about  my  ability  to  answer  it." 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  259 

"  The  question  I  desire  to  propose  is  this — 
How  many  preceded  Noah  in  leaving  the  ark?" 

"I  am  unable  to  answer,  sir." 

"  That  is  strange,  as  the  Bible  so  plainly  and 
explicitly  informs  us.  We  are  told  that  Noah 
went  forth  out  jof  the  ark ;  therefore  three  must 
have  preceded  him." 

The  General's  wit  "  set  the  table  in  a  roar." 
As  soon  as  the  mirth  had  subsided,  I  ad 
dressed  the  General : 

"  It  is  my  turn  to  ask  a  question.  Do  you 
know,  sir,  where  the  witch  of  Endor  lived  ?" 

"  I  did  know,  but  really  I  have  forgotten." 

"Well,  sir,  she  lived  at  Endor." 

The  laugh  was  now  against  him,  but  he 
joined  in  it  heartily  himself. 

Knowing  that  General  Nelson  had  visited 
every  quarter  of  the  globe,  I  asked  him 
whether  he  had  ever  seen  any  of  the  modern 
Greeks. 

"  I  never  saw  any  of  the  ancient  Greeks," 
was  his  curt  reply. 

General  Nelson  was  regarded  as  a  brave  and 
skilful  officer.  He  has  done  good  service  in 


260  THE  IRON  FURNACE;   OR 

his  country's  cause.  At  Shiloh  his  promptness 
and  efficiency  contributed  greatly  to  retrieve 
the  disaster  which  befell  General  Grant  on  the 
first  day  of  the  battle.  His  rencontre  with 
General  Davis,  which  resulted  in  his  own 
death,  is  greatly  to  be  regretted,  though  his 
own  ungovernable  temper  and  inexcusable 
conduct  caused  his  tragic  end. 

I  once  visited  his  headquarters  late  in  the 
afternoon.  On  my  arrival,  he  informed  me 
that  I  would  confer  a  great  favour  upon  him 
by  guiding  a  company  of  cavalry  on  an  expe 
dition  to  the  south-eastern  part  of  the  county, 
to  which  I  consented.  I  rode  in  front  with  the 
officer  in  command.  When  we  had  reached 
a  point  beyond  the  pickets,  my  companion 
informed  me  that  we  would  meet  no  more 
Federals;  if  we  met  any  soldiers  while  out 
ward  bound,  we  might  take  it  for  granted  that 
they  were  rebels.  After  riding  about  an  hour 
longer,  we  encountered  a  company  of  cavalry, 
and  were  ordered  to  halt  by  the  officer  in  com 
mand.  My  companion,  stating  that  they  must 
be  rebels,  rode  up  and  gave  the  countersign.  I 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  261 

felt  somewhat  uneasy  at  the  head  of  that  com 
pany  at  this  time,  not  knowing  the  moment  that 
bullets  would  be  whistling  around  us.  They 
proved  however  to  be  Federals,  returning  from 
an  extended  scouting  expedition.  I  conducted 
our  company  to  the  house  of  a  Union  man, 
whom  we  aroused  from  his  bed ;  and  learning 
that  we  were  Federals,  he  took  my  place,  and  I 
returned  to  General  Kelson.  The  General  now 
desired  me  to  go  as  a  spy,  to  obtain  informa 
tion  as  to  the  number  of  troops  stationed  at 
Norman's  Bridge,  which  spanned  Big  Bear 
Creek.  I  replied  that  I  had  ridden  sixty  miles 
without  sleep,  but  that  I  would  send  two 
Union  men  of  my  acquaintance  in  my  stead. 
This  was  satisfactory,  and  my  Union  friends 
returned  with  accurate  information  as  to  the 
number  of  rebel  troops  stationed  at  the  bridge, 
and  the  best  points  of  attack.  The  attack  was 
made  on  the  next  day  after  receiving  the  infor 
mation,  and  the  rebels  were  surprised  and 
totally  defeated;  but  few  escaped  death  or 
capture. 


262 


GENERAL   W.  T.   SHEKMAN. 

On  the  day  that  General  Sherman  reached 
Kienzi,  I  supped  with  him  at  the  house  of  a 
friend.  At  table  the  following  dialogue  took 
place  between  us. 

"  Are  you  the  person  from  whomv  Sherman's 
battery  took  its  name?" 

"I  am,  sir." 

"Many  gentlemen  in  this  county,"  said  I, 
"and  among  them  my  father-in-law,  have  pipes 
made  of  the  fragments  of  the  gun-carriages  of 
Sherman's  battery,  which  was  captured  at 
Manassas  by  the  Confederates." 

"Sherman's  battery  was  not  captured  at 
Manassas,"  replied  the  General. 

"  The  honour  of  capturing  Sherman's  battery 
is  generally  accorded  to  the  second  regiment  of 
Mississippi  volunteers,  which  went  from  this 
county  and  the  adjoining  county  of  Tippah, 
though  several  regiments  claim  it,  and  many  of 
my  friends  declare  that  they  have  seen  Sher 
man's  battery  since  its  capture." 

"I  assure  you,  sir,  Sherman's  battery  was  not 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  263 

captured — so  far  from  this,  it  came  out  of  the 
battle  of  Manassas  Plains  with  two  pieces  cap 
tured  from  the  enemy,  having  itself  lost  none." 

At  this  moment  Colonel  Fry,  who  killed 
Zollikoffer,  rode  up  for  orders.  While  receiv 
ing  them,  the  horses  attached  to  a  battery  halted 
in  front  of  us.  " There,"  said  the  General,  "is 
every  piece  of  Sherman's  battery.  I  ought  to 
know  that  battery,  and  I  assure  you  there  is  not 
a  gun  missing." 

The  pipes,  canes,  and  trinkets  supposed  to  be 
made  of  the  wood  of  Sherman's  battery,  if 
collected,  would  form  a  vast  pile ;  and  were  you 
to  inform  the  owners  of  those  relics  that  they 
were  spurious,  you  would  be  politely  informed 
that  you  might  "tell  that  tale  to  the  marines," 
as  their  sons  and  their  neighbours'  sons  were 
the  honoured  captors  of  that  battery;  a  fact, 
concerning  the  truth  of  which  they  entertained 
not  even  the  shadow  of  a  doubt. 


264  THE  IRON   FURNACE;   OR 


CHAPTER    IX. 

CONDITION  OP   THE  SOUTH. 

Cause  of  the  Rebellion — Prevalence  of  Union  Sentiment  in 
the  South — Why  not  Developed — Stevenson's  Views — Why 
Incorrect — Cavalry  Raids  upon  Union  Citizens — How  the 
Rebels  employ  Slaves^-Slaves  Whipped  and  sent  out  of 
the  Federal  Lines — Resisting  the  Conscript  Law — Kansas 
Jayhawkers — Guarding  Rebel  Property — Perfidy  of  Seces 
sionists — Plea  for  Emancipation — The  South  Exhausted — 
Failure  of  Crops — Southern  Merchants  Ruined — Bragg 
Prohibits  the  Manufacture  and  Vending  of  Intoxicating 
Liquors — Its  Salutary  Effect. 

THE  following  is  the  substance  of  addresses  de 
livered  by  me  on  October  22d  and  25th,  1862, 
at  Cooper's  Institute,  New  York,  and  before  the 
Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  at  its 
session  in  Brooklyn. 

I  will  confine  myself  to  rendering  answers  to 
various  questions  *which  have  been  asked  me 
since  my  escape  to  the  North.  I  have  viewed 
the  rebellion  from  a  southern  stand-point ;  have 
been  conversant  with  its  whole  history;  have 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  265 

been  behind  the  curtains,  and  have  learned  the 
motives  which  impel  its  instigators  in  their 
treasonable  designs  against  the  Government. 

Slavery  I  believe  to  have  been  the  sole  cause 
of  the  rebellion.  It  is  true  that  the  slave 
holders  of  the  South  were  becoming  strongly 
anti-republican.  Rule  or  ruin  was  their  deter 
mination,  and  they  would  not  have  listened  to 
any  compromise  measure  after  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln ;  but  this  feeling,  this  opposition  to 
republicanism,  and  lust  of  power,  is  the  off 
spring  of  slavery.  In  1856  I  heard  Jeff.  Davis 
declare  that  the  people  of  the  North  and  the 
South  were  not  homogeneous,  and  that  there 
fore  he  advocated  secession.  The  reason  he 
assigned  for  this  want  of  homogeneousness  was 
found  in  the  fact  that  the  South  held  slaves; 
the  North  did  not. 

Men  accustomed  to  exercise  arbitrary  power 
over  their  fellow-men,  will  not  cease  their 
encroachments  upon  the  rights  of  all  with 
whom  they  are  associated,  politically  or  other 
wise,  and  a  temporary  suspension  of  the  control 
of  the  government  is  regarded  by  them  as  a 
23 


266  THE   IRON    FURNACE;    OR 

casus  belli.  Slavery  may  therefore  be  justly 
regarded  as  the  parent  of  secession.  "Whilst 
this  cause  exists,  the  South  will  be  the  hot-bed 
of  treason.  Slavery  has  produced  its  legitimate 
fruit,  and  treason  is  its  name.  With  slavery 
intact,  no  compromise,  if  accepted  by  the  South, 
would  prevent  another  outbreak  in  a  few  years. 
The  question  has  been  asked,  is  there  any 
Union  sentiment  in  the  South  ?  I  reply  that 
there  is  a  strong  Union  sentiment,  even  in  Mis 
sissippi.  This  sentiment  is  not  found  amongst 
the  slaveholders,  for,  as  a  class,  they  are  firmly 
united  in  their  hostility  to  the  Government. 
The  middle  and  lower  classes  are  not  only 
opposed  to  secession,  but  also  to  slavery  itself. 
Eleven  years'  association  with  the  southern 
people  has  enabled  me  to  form  a  correct 
opinion,  and  to  know  whereof  I  affirm.  I 
make  this  statement  without  fear  of  successful 
contradiction,  that  the  majority  of  the  white 
inhabitants  of  the  South  are  Union-loving  men. 
The  slaveholders  have  long  ruled  both  the 
blacks  and  the  whites  in  the  South.  When  the 
rebellion  was  determined  upon,  the  slaveholders 


SLAVERY   AND   SECESSION.  267 

had  the  organized  force  to  compel  acquiescence 
upon  the  part  of  those  who  favoured  the  Union, 
yet  wished  to  remain  neutral.  Their  drafts  and 
conscriptions  swept  them  into  the  army,  and 
when  once  there,  they  must  obey  their  officers 
upon  pain  of  death.  To  desert  and  join  the 
Union  army,  was  to  abandon  their  homes  and 
families,  and  all  their  youthful  associations. 
Yet  many  have  done  it,  and  are  now  doing 
good  service  in  their  country's  cause. 

The  rebels  punished  with  death  any  who 
declared  himself  in  favour  of  the  Union.  In  my 
presence  at  Tupelo,  they  were  taken  out  daily 
and  shot  for  the^xpression  of  sentiments  adverse 
to  the  rebellion.  If  the  Union  troops  at  any 
time  occupied  a  place,  and  the  people  expressed 
any  favourable  sentiments  to  their  cause,  upon 
the  evacuation  of  that  position,  those  who  sided 
with  the  Union  troops  were  cruelly  treated. 
All  these  causes,  and  many  others  which  I 
might  mention,  have  prevented  the  full  develop 
ment  of  the  true  sentiments  of  the  people.  I 
could  name  many  localities  within  the  rebel 
lines  where  the  great  majority  of  the  people 


268  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

bitterly  denounce  the  Southern  Confederacy 
and  all  connected  with  it.  I  could  name  many 
individuals  who  have  declared  to  me  that  they 
would  prefer  death  to  a  dishonourable  compli 
ance  with  the  conscript  law.  I  could  name 
localities  within  the  rebel  lines  where  armed 
resistance  to  the  conscript  law  has  been  made ; 
but*the  safety  of  those  loyal  citizens  forbids  it. 
I  know  that  there  are  some  who  assert  that 
there  is  no  Union  feeling  in  the  South ;  but  they 
are  mistaken.  The  author  of  "  Thirteen  Months 
in  the  Eebel  Army"  found  but  little.  His  situ 
ation  was  not  favourable  for  its  discovery.  He 
informs  us  in  his  work,  that  after  he  had  been 
compelled  to  volunteer,  he  regarded  his  oath  (an 
oath  much  more  honoured  in  the  breach  than 
in  the  observance,)  of  such  force  that  he  sought 
to  obtain  information,  rather  than  to  desert. 
He  passed  from  one  post  of  preferment  to 
another,  till  at  length  he  was  on  duty  under  the 
eye  of  Breckinridge  himself,  who  complimented 
him  upon  his  alacrity  in  bearing  dispatches; 
and  this  was  truly  great,  as  he  rode  at  one 
time  sixty  miles  in  seven  hours,  and  at  another, 


SLAVERY   AND  SECESSION.  269 

fourteen  miles  in  less  than  fifty  minutes.  He 
also  exhibited  a  guarded  zeal  for  the  secession 
cause.  "Who  would  have  gone  to  an  officer  who 
was  apparently  aiding  and  abetting  the  rebel 
lion,  ably  and  assiduously,  to  communicate  his 
Union  sentiments?  Any  who  would  thus 
betray  themselves  could  not  be  sure  that  they 
would  not  be  shot  in  twenty-four  hours.  Had 
Mr.  Stevenson  been  with  me  in  Tupelo,  and 
looked  upon  those  seventy  or  eighty  prisoners 
who  were  incarcerated  for  their  adherence  to 
the  Union — had  he  witnessed  the  daily  execu 
tion  of  some  of  them  who  preferred  death  to 
volunteering  to  defend  a  cause  which  they  did 
not  hesitate  to  denounce  at  the  peril  of  their 
lives — had  he  been  with  me  while  in  the  midst 
of  a  host  of  Union  citizens  of  Mississippi,  who 
at  the  noon  of  night  had  assembled  in  the  deep 
glens  and  on  the  high  hills,  for  the  purpose  of 
devising  means  to  resist  the  hated  conscript 
law — he  would  have  come  to  a  far  different 
conclusion.  I  have  seen  the  cavalry  go  out  to 
arrest  Union  men.  I  was  at  a  Mr.  William 
Herron's,  in  South  Carroll,  Carrol  county,  Ten- 
23* 


270  THE  IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

nessee,  and  while  there,  several  companies  of 
cavalry  came  up  from  Jackson  to  destroy  the 
loyal  citizens  of  that  vicinity,  and  they  did 
destroy  some  of  them  and  much  property. 
They  passed  within  two  hundred  yards  of  for 
tifications  hastily  thrown  up  to  resist  them,  and 
would  have  been  fired  on  had  they  come  within 
range.  Before  completing  their  mission,  a  mes 
senger  came  to  inform  them  that  Fort  Henry 
was  beleagured.  They  hastened  to  the  fort  just 
in  time  to  take  part  in  the  action.  After  the 
surrender  of  the  fort,  they  retreated  to  Fort 
Donelson,  and  were  all  captured  at  the  reduc 
tion  of  that  fort,  to  the  great  joy  of  those 
Union  citizens  whom  they  had  driven  from 
their  homes,  and  whose  property  they  had 
destroyed. 

^  The  slaves  add  greatly  to  the  strength  of  the 
rebellion.  Slave  labour  is  extensively  employed 
in  the  military  department.  They  are  the  sap 
pers  and  miners,  the  cooks,  the  teamsters,  the 
artisans;  and  there  are  instances  where  they 
are  forced  to  shoulder  the  musket  -and  go  into 
the  ranks.  I  have  seen  and  conversed  with 


SLAVERY  AND   SECESSION.  271 

slave  soldiers  who  have  fought  in  every  battle 
from  Manassas  to  Shiloh. 

Many  strong  secession  counties  send  more 
soldiers  to  the  rebel  army  than  there  are  voters 
in  those  counties.  The  slaves  who  remain  at 
home,  labour  to  raise  provisions  for  the  suste 
nance  of  the  families  of  the  soldiers,  and  a  sur 
plus  for  the  army;  hence  every  white  man  is 
available  for  service  in  the  field.  Were  this 
slave  labour  diverted  to  some  other  channel, 
the  result  would  follow,  that  a  great  proportion 
of  the  rebel  soldiers  would  be  forced  to  return 
home  to  care  for  their  families,  or  those  families 
must  perish.  In  order  to  divert  this  labour,  it 
would  be  only  necessary  to  encourage  the 
negroes  to  leave  their  masters.  "Wherever  the 
Federal  army  has  advanced  in  the  southwest, 
the  slaves  have  crowded  into  their  lines  by 
hundreds,  and  only  desisted  upon  learning, 
much  to  their  regret,  that  they  would  not  be 
received,  many  of  them  being  tied  up  and 
whipped,  and  then  sent  southward  beyond  the 
limits  of  the-  Federal  army.  Some  who  had 
travelled  seventy  miles  upon  the  underground 


272  THE   IRON  FURNACE;   OR 

railroad,  to  reach  the  Union  army,  being  asked 
by  their  fellow-servants  upon  their  return, 
how  they  liked  the  Yankees,  replied  that 
"General  Nelson  sort  o'  hinted  that  he  didn't 
want  us."  Upon  being  urged  to  be  more 
explicit,  and  to  state  more  fully  what  was  the 
nature  of  the  hint  which  led  them  to  infer  that 
General  Nelson  did  not  want  them,  their  spokes 
man  replied :  "  Well,  if  we  must  tell,  we  must. 
General  Nelson  tied  us  up  and  gave  us  fifty 
apiece,  and  sent  us  off,  sw'arin'  he'd  guv  us 
a  hundred  ef  we  didn't  go  right  straight  back 
home  to  our  masters.  He  said  this  wa'n't  no 
war  got  up  to  set  the  niggers  free." 

The  Kansas  Jayhawkers  liberate  all  the  slaves 
with  whom  they  come  in  contact.  I  passed  four 
regiments  of  their  cavalry  last  August,  on  their 
way  to  Rienzi,  Mississippi.  They  had  about 
two  thousand  slaves  with  them,  of  every  age 
and  sex.  Those  slaves  groomed  their  horses, 
drove  their  wagons,  cooked  their  victuals,  and 
made  themselves  useful  in  a  variety  of  ways, 
leaving  every  white  man  free  to  go  into  the 
battle  when  the  hour  of  contest  arrived. 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  273 

Slavery  is  a  strong  prop  to  the  rebellion. 
Four  millions  of  labourers  are  able  to  furnish 
supplies  for  eight  millions.  Subtract  that  vast 
resource  from  the  rebellion,  add  it  to  the  sup 
port  of  the  Government,  and  its  stunning  effect 
would  be  speedily  demonstrated  in  the  complete 
paralysis  of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  In  order 
to  supply  the  loss  of  the  slaves,  half  the  soldiers 
in  the  army  must  return,  or  famine  would  sweep 
both  the  army  and  the  families  of  the  soldiers 
from  the  face  of  the  earth.  One  cause  of  the 
long  continuance  of  the  war  is,  that  the  Union 
army  has  endeavoured  to  conciliate  the  South, 
rather  than  crush  the  rebellion.  They  have 
guarded  the  property  of  the  rebels ;  they  have 
returned  promptly  their  fugitive  slaves;  they 
have  put  down  servile  insurrection  with  an  iron 
hand,  and  in  every  possible  way  have  shown 
clemency  instead  of %  severity.  But  their  kind 
ness  has  been  abused,  their  clemency  regarded 
as  evidence  of  imbecility,  and  the  humane 
policy  of  the  Government  totally  misconstrued. 
Captain  John  Kainey,  of  Cambridge,  Ohio, 
while  on  duty  at  Corinth,  Mississippi,  received 


274 

an  application  from  a  notorious  secessionist  for 
a  guard  to  protect  his  premises,  which  was 
obtained  for  him  from  the  colonel,  three  sol 
diers  being  detached  for  that  purpose,  who 
proceeded  to  the  station  assigned  them.  About 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  they  saw  the 
owner  of  the  premises  they  were  guarding, 
mount  his  horse  and  ride  off.  Supposing  him 
to  be  going  on  some  ordinary  errand,  they  took 
no  further  notice  of  it.  About  nine  o'clock, 
one  of  the  guard  who  had  strayed  into  the 
orchard,  some  three  hundred  yards  from  the 
house,  heard  an  unusual  sound,  as  of  cavalry 
approaching.  Concealing  himself,  he  saw,  by 
the  bright  moonlight,  this  secessionist  ride  up 
with  seven  or  eight  rebel  cavalrymen,  who, 
seizing  his  two  companions,  rode  off  with  them 
as  prisoners.  The  ingrate  who  committed  this 
base  and  perfidious  act  then  went  into  his 
house  and  retired  to  rest.  As  speedily  as  pos 
sible  the  third  picket  returned  to  his  company, 
and  informed  them  of  the  occurrence.  Fired 
with  indignation,  twenty  men  volunteered  to 
visit  summary  punishment  upon  the  perpe- 


SLAVERY   AND   SECESSION.  275 

trator  of  this  villany.  Hastening  to  his  house, 
they  aroused  him  from  his  slumbers,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  suspended  him  by  the  neck 
between  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  On  their 
return  they  reported  to  their  companions  what 
they  had  done,  and,  through  fear  of  punish 
ment,  took  every  precaution  to  prevent  the  act 
reaching  the  colonel's  ears.  It  was  reported 
to  the  colonel,  however,  whose  reply  to  his 
informant  was,  "  Served  him  right !"  This  policy 
of  guarding  rebel  property  by  Union  troops 
must  be  abandoned,  or  the  war  will  never 
terminate.  The  Union  army  has  been  attacked 
by  the  rebels  when  large  numbers  of  the  sol 
diers  were  absent  as  guards  to  protect  the  plan 
tations  and  all  the  interests  of  secessionists. 
Such  gingerly  warfare  must  end,  or  the  days 
of  the  Eepublic  are  numbered.  Carrying  the 
war  into  the  enemy's  country  has  thus  far 
proved  a  mere  farce.  The  retreating  rebels 
destroyed  tenfold  more  property  than  the  pur 
suing  Federals.  I  would  not  counsel  cruelty. 
I  would  not  advise  the  unnecessary  destruction 
of  life  or  property,  for  all  wanton  destruction 


276  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

tends  to  weaken  rather  than  to  strengthen  the 
cause  of  those  who  perpetrate  it.  Vandalism  is 
everywhere  reprehensible.  The  proper  policy 
I  believe  to  be  this :  Let  the  Union  army  be 
supplied  with  provisions,  so  far  as  practicable, 
from  the  territory  occupied.  Let  the  slaves  find 
protection  and  employment  on  their  arrival 
within  the  Union  lines.  Despise  not  their  valu 
able  services.  Let  it  be  proclaimed  that  for 
every  Union  citizen  of  the  South  who  is  slain 
for  his  adherence  to  the  old  flag,  a  rebel 
prisoner  shall  be  executed,  and  that  the  confis 
cated  property  of  Union  men  shall  be  restored, 
at  the  cost  of  rebel  sympathizers  in  the  vicinity. 
Let  these  necessary  measures  be  carried  out, 
and  no  well-informed  person  can  doubt  that  the 
war  will  cease  before  the  end  of  six  months. 
"With  slavery,  the  rebels  are  powerful ;  without 
it,  they  are  powerless.  With  slavery,  every 
white  man  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and 
sixty  is  available  as  a  soldier,  and  vast 
supplies  are  procured  bv  servile  labour.  Abo 
lish  slavery,  and  the  army  would  be  immedi 
ately  reduced  one- half,  and  supplies  would  be 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION-.  277 

diminished  to  a  destructive  extent.  Slaves 
armed  and  drilled  would  make  effective  soldiers. 
With  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  country,  with 
an  intense  desire  to  liberate  themselves  and  their 
brethren  from  bondage,  with  an  ardent  hatred 
of  their  cruel  masters  and  overseers,  (and  the 
majority  of  them  are  cruel,)  they  would  render 
a  willing  and  powerful  aid  in  crushing  the 
great  rebellion.  After  the  war  is  ended,  give 
them  as  much  land  as  their  necessities  require, 
either  in  New  Mexico  or  Arizona,  and  they 
will  furnish  more  sugar,  rice,  and  cotton,  than 
were  extorted  from  them  by  compulsory  labour 
in  the  house  of  bondage. 

The  desire  for  freedom  on  the  part  of  the 
slaves  is  universal.  It  is,  according  to  my 
observation  and  full  belief,  a  rule  without 
exception.  These  aspirations  are  constantly 
increasing  as  the  rigours  of  slavery  are  in 
creased,  and  the  slaves  are  as  well  prepared 
for  freedom  as  they  would  be  a  hundred  years 
hence.  The  Iron  Furnace  of  slavery  does  not 
tend  to  the  elevation  of  its  victims.  There  are 
better  methods  of  elevating  a  race  than  by 
24 


278  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

enslaving  it.  The  moral  elevation  of  the  slave 
is  no  part  of  the  reason  why  he  is  held  in  bond 
age;  but  the  convenience  and  profit  of  the 
master  are  the  sole  end  and  aim  of  the  peculiar 
institution.  All  attempts  on  the  part  of  the 
slaves  to  obtain  their  liberty  are  resisted  by  the 
slaveholders,  by  the  infliction  of  appalling  and 
barbarous  cruelties.  Thirty -two  negroes  were 
executed  at  Natchez,  Mississippi,  recently, 
because  they  expressed  a  determination  "to 
go  to  Lincoln."  Six  were  hanged  in  Noxubee 
county,  and  one  burned  in  the  streets  of  Macon. 
The  southern  papers  state  that  Hon.  Mr.  Orr,  of 
South  Carolina,  attempted  to  drive  his  slaves 
into  the  interior,  to  prevent  their  escaping  to 
the  Yankees,  and  upon  their  refusal  to  go,  he' 
ordered  them  to  be  driven  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet,  and  in  the  execution  of  the  order,  fifty 
of  them  were  slain.  There  are  instances  in 
which  the  slave  is  greatly  attached  to  his  mas 
ter's  family,  but  his  love  of  liberty  is  greater 
than  that  attachment.  It  often  transcends  his 
love  for  his  own  family,  which  he  abandons  for 
its  sake,  risking  his  life  on  the  underground  rail- 


SLAVEKY  AND   SECESSION.  279 

road,  and  enduring  the  rigours  of  a  Canadian 
winter,  that  he  may  enjoy  his  inalienable  rights. 

The  southwest  is  already  nearly  exhausted. 
The  troops  which  first  went  into  the  service 
were  well  supplied  with  clothing,  provisions, 
and  money ;  but  the  conscripts  were  poorly  clad, 
and  received  their  wages  in  Confederate  bonds, 
which  have  so  depreciated,  that  ten  dollars  in 
gold  will  purchase  one  hundred  dollars  of  the 
bonds.  Great  suffering  is  the  consequence,  and 
desertions  are  of  daily  occurrence.  While  I 
was '  in  prison  at  Tupelo,  eighty-seven  of  the 
Arkansas  infantry  deserted  in  a  body.  One 
hundred  cavalry  were  sent  to  arrest  them,  but 
they  defeated  the  cavalry  in  a  fair  fight,  and 
went  on  their  way  rejoicing.  Tennesseeans  and 
Kentuckians  could  not  be  trusted  on  picket 
duty,  their  proclivity  for  desertion  being  noto 
rious.  They  suffered  no  opportunity  to  escape 
them,  and  often  went  off  in  squads.  Many  of 
them  being  forced  into  the  service,  did  not  con 
sider  their  involuntary  oath  binding. 

The  wheat  crop  of  1862,  in  the  southwest,  was 
almost  totally  destroyed  by  the  rust,  and  the 


280  THE  IRON  FURNACE;   OR 

corn  crop  by  the  drought.  Salt  could  not  be 
obtained  at  any  cost,  and  every  marketable 
commodity  had  reached  a  fabulous  price.  South 
ern  merchants  feel  that  they  are  ruined.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  war  they  had  made  large 
purchases  in  the  North,  mainly  on  credit.  The 
rebel  Congress  passed  a  law  that  all  who  were 
indebted  to  the  North  must  pay  two-thirds  of  the 
amount  of  their  indebtedness  to  the  Southern 
Confederacy.  This  the  merchants  did.  They 
then  sold  their  goods,  taking  cotton  and  Con 
federate  money  in  pay.  The  cotton  was 
destroyed  by  order  of  Beauregard,  and  the 
Confederate  scrip  is  worthless,  and  the  Federal 
generals  are  enforcing  the  payment  of  Northern 
claims.  This  fourfold  loss  will  beggar  every 
southern  merchant  subjected  to  it. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  war,  strong 
drink  was  abundant,  and  it  was  freely  used  by 
the  soldiers.  Drunkenness  was  fearfully  preva 
lent.  This  vice  increased  to  such  a  degree  that 
the  army  was  rapidly  becoming  demoralized. 
A  large  amount  of  grain  was  wasted  in  the 
manufacture  of  liquor.  At  this  juncture  the 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  281 

rebel  government  wisely  prohibited  the  manu 
facture  and  sale  of  all  that  would  intoxicate. 
Soon  the  wisdom  of  this  measure  was  appa 
rent.  For  a  time  this  contraband  article 
was  smuggled  in,  yet  it  was  only  in  limited 
quantities,  and  at  the  present  time  a  drunken 
soldier  is  a  rara  avis  in  the  army.  At  the  first 
promulgation  of  the  law,  a  cunning  countryman 
perforated  a  large  number  of  eggs,  withdrew 
the  contents,  filled  the  shells  with  whiskey, 
closed  them  up,  and  carrying  them  to  the  camp 
at  Kienzi,  sold  them  at  an  exorbitant  price. 
Others  resorted  to  filling  coffee-pots  with 
whisky,  stopping  up  the  bottom  of  the  spout, 
filling  it  with  buttermilk,  and  if  asked  by  the 
guards  what  they  had  for  sale,  would  pour  out 
some  of  the  milk  in  the  spout,  and  by  this 
deception  gain  an  entrance  to  the  camp,  and 
supply  the  soldiers  with  liquor.  But  all  these 
tricks  were  discovered,  and  since  the  manufac 
ture,  as  well  as  the  sale,  was  prohibited,  the 
supply  on  hand  became  exhausted,  and  drunk 
enness  ceased. 
24* 


282  THE  IKON  FURNACE:  OR 


CHAPTER    X. 

BATTLES   OF   LEESBURG,  BELMONT,   AND  SHILOH. 

Rebel  Cruelty  to  Prisoners — The  Fratricide — Grant  De 
feated — Saved  by  Gunboats — Buell's  Advance — Railroad 
Disaster — The  South  Despondent — General  Rosecrans — 
Secession  will  become  Odious  even  in  the  South — Poem. 


BATTLE   OF   LEESBURG. 

THE  battle  of  Leesburg  was  fought  on  the  21st 
of  October,  1861.  The  southern  accounts  of  this 
battle  were  so  contradictory,  that  I  will  not 
give  the  various  versions.  One  statement,  how 
ever,  all  concur  in — that  when  the  Federal  troops 
retreated  to  the  river,  after  being  overpowered 
by  superior  numbers,  and  had  thrown  down 
their  arms,  calling  for  quarter,  no  mercy  was 
shown  them.  Hundreds  were  bayoneted,  or 
forced  into  the  river  and  drowned.  The  rebels 
clubbed  their  guns,  and  dashed  out  the  brains 
of  many  while  kneeling  at  their  feet  and 
imploring  mercy.  I  saw  one  ruffian  who 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  283 

boasted  that  he  had  bayoneted  seven  Yankee 
prisoners  captured  on  that  occasion. 

BATTLE   OF  BELMONT. 

The  battle  of  Belmont  was  fought  on  the  7th 
of  November,  1861.  I  have  heard  repeatedly 
from  southern  officers  their  version  of  the  events 
which  occurred  on  that  occasion.  General 
McClernand,  for  the  purpose  of  breaking  up 
the  rebel  camp  at  Belmont,  attacked  it  in  force 
at  an  early  hour,  and  completely  routed  the 
enemy,  pursuing  them  to  a  considerable  dis 
tance.  Eeturning,  he  destroyed  completely  the 
camp,  but  delaying  too  long,  large  reinforce 
ments  T*ere  thrown  over  the  river  from  Colum 
bus,  and  the  Federals  were  compelled  to  retreat 
precipitately  to  their  boats,  not,  however,  till 
they  had  fully  accomplished  the  object  of  their 
mission.  A  scene  occurred  on  this  field  which 
exhibits  one  of  the  saddest  phases  of  this  inter 
necine  strife.  The  incident  was  related  to  me 
by  Mr.  Tomlin,  a  lawyer  of  Jackson,  Tennes 
see,  not  unknown  even  in  the  North,  who  was 
personally  acquainted  with  the  actors.  Colonel 


284:  THE  IRON  FURNACE;  OR 

Rogers,  of  an  Illinois  regiment,  led  his  com 
mand  into  action  early  in  the  contest.  A  Ten 
nessee  regiment  opposed  him  with  fierceness  for 
some  time.  At  length  they  began  to  waver  and 
exhibit  symptoms  of  disorder.  At  this  moment 
their  colonel,  who  had  been  unhorsed,  mounted 
a  stump,  and  by  an  energetic  and  fervid  address, 
rallied  his  men.  Again  they  began  to  falter, 
and  again  his  burning  words  restored  order. 
Colonel  Rogers  believing  that  the  safety  of  him 
self  and  regiment  depended  upon  the  death  of 
the  Tennessee  colonel,  drew  a  pistol  from  his 
holsters,  rode  up  and  deliberately  shot  him 
through  the  brain.  The  Tennesseeans  seeing 
their  colonel  fall,  fled  precipitately.  *On  the 
return  of  the  Illinois  troops,  Colonel  Eogers, 
impelled  by  curiosity,  dismounted,  and  scan 
ning  the  features  of  the  colonel  whom  his  own 
hand  had  slain,  recognised  his  own  brother. 
As  the  tide  of  battle  had  rolled  past  for  the 
moment,  he  ordered  the  corpse  to  be  conveyed 
to  a  transport,  on  which  it  was  brought  to 
Cairo,  and  thence  borne  to  the  stricken  parents, 
who  mourned  over  and  buried  the  remains 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  285 

of  their  brave  but  erring  child,  who  had  met 
his  fate  at  his  brother's  unconsciously  fratricidal 
hand. 

BATTLE   OF  SHILOH. 

On  April  6th,  1862,  the  sun  rose  clear;  not  a 
cloud  was  discernible  in  the  sky ;  it  was  truly  a 
lovely  Sabbath,  even  for  a  southern  clime.  Early 
in  the  morning  I  took  a  walk  with  my  little 
daughter,  a  child  four  years  of  age,  in  whose 
prattle  I  was  taking  great  interest.  We  had 
gone  about  one  hundred  yards  when  my  child 
exclaimed,  "  Pa,  we  must  go  back !  it's  going  to 
rain;  don't  you  hear  the  thunder?"  The  sharp 
and  stunning  reports  I  soon  recognised  to  be 
the  sound  of  cannon  on  the  field  of  battle. 
The  cannonading  continued  incessantly  during 
the  day.  The  whole  country  became  intensely 
excited,  and  many  citizens  hastened  to  the 
battlefield,  the  majority  bent  upon  plunder. 
On  Monday  the  battle  still  raged  with  increas 
ing  fury.  On  Sabbath,  General  Grant  had  been 
completely  surprised,  and  would  have  lost  his 
whole  army  but  for  the  gunboats  in  the  river. 


286  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 

These-  gunboats  shelled  the  pursuing  rebels, 
checking  their  advance,  and  saving  the  discom- 
fitted  Federals.  Buell  arrived  with  his  division 
on  Sabbath  night,  and  on  Monday  the  rebels 
were  driven  at  every  point  during  the  whole 
day,  with  great  loss.  When  I  heard  the  rebel 
officers  state  that  the  gunboats  lying  in  the 
Tennessee  river  had  checked  their  pursuit, 
and  had  committed  great  havoc  amongst  their 
troops,  at  the  distance  of  nearly  three  miles,  I 
supposed  that  the  rebel  army  had  continued  the 
pursuit  till  they  came  in  sight  of  the  gunners 
on  the  boats,  who  then  threw  their  shells  into 
their  advancing  columns,  and  my  mistake  was 
not  corrected  till  I  saw  the  scene  of  action.  A 
plateau  extended  from  the  river,  where  the 
gunboats  lay,  to  the  hills,  a  distance  of  about 
one-quarter  of  a  mile.  The  hills  rose  to  a  con 
siderable  height,  and  were  covered  with  a  large 
growth,  and  on  their  frowning  summits  the 
lofty  trees  seemed  to  intercept  the  passing 
clouds.  Grant's  discomfitted  and  shattered 
army  had  taken  refuge  on  the  plateau.  Some 
had  even  thrown  themselves  into  the  river,  and 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  287 

swam  across.  Such  was  the  position  of  affairs 
when  the  gunners  threw  their  shells  over  those 
lofty  hills,  and  beyond  them  a  distance  of  two 
miles,  into  the  midst  of  the  rebels,  checking 
their  advance,  and  destroying  them  by  scores. 
Couriers  constantly  passed  to  and  fro  to  give 
information  of  the  position  of  the  enemy.  All 
night  long  their  shelling  continued,  causing 
Beauregard  to  change  his  camp  thrice.  Thus, 

"Bombs  bursting  in  air, 
Gave  proof  through  the  night 
That  our  flag  was  still  there." 

On  Monday  morning  Buell's  division  ad 
vanced,  and  the  tide  was  turned.  The  rebels 
were  driven  from  every  position,  and  their  loss 
was  fearful;  and  had  pursuit  been  continued  to 
Corinth,  their  whole  army  must  have  been 
annihilated.  General  A.  S.  Johnson  fell  about 
three  o'clock  on  the  Sabbath.  The  tibial  artery 
had  been  severed — a  wound  not  necessarily 
fatal;  but  he  remained  in  the  saddle  till  he 
fainted  from  loss  of  blood,  and  when  borne 
from  his  horse  by  Governor  Harris  and  others, 
survived  but  twenty  minutes.  On  Sabbath 


288 

night  Beauregard  occupied,  for  a  time,  an  old 
Presbyterian  church — a  rude  log  edifice.  The 
church  was  named  Shiloh ;  hence  both  Beaure 
gard  and  General  Grant,  in  their  dispatches, 
named  the  engagement  the  battle  of  Shiloh.  I 
was  in  Kienzi  as  the  wounded  passed  down  on 
the  cars  to  the  various  hospitals  below.  They 
passed  continually  for  a  month.  On  the  18th 
of  April  I  went  down  to  Macon,  in  Noxubee 
county.  A  large  number  of  wounded  were  on 
the  train.  A  lady  from  the  Female  Seminary 
in  Aberdeen  had  been  placed  under  my  care. 
"When  we  reached  a  point  six  miles  from  Craw- 
fordsville,  I  noticed  a  young  man  looking  out 
in  an  excited  manner,  and  immediately  after 
he  jumped  out  and  rolled  down  an  embank 
ment.  I  was  much  surprised  at  his  conduct, 
but  soon  the  crashing  of  the  cars  explained  the 
cause.  The  train  had  been  thrown  from  the 
track,  and  was  rushing  down  an  embankment. 
Jumping  from  the  cars  now  became  general. 
My  lady  friend  arose,  declaring  that  she  also 
would  leap  from  the  car.  I  caught  and  held 
lier  till  the  danger  was  over,  and  thus  pre- 


SLAVEKY   AND   SECESSION.  289 

vented  perhaps  serious  injury  to  her  person, 
as  all  who  jumped  from  the  train  were  more  or 
less  injured.  On  extricating  ourselves  from  the 
debris  of  the  cars,  an  appalling  sight  met  our 
view.  The  sick,  wounded,  dying,  and  dead, 
were  scattered  promiscuously*  in  every  direc 
tion.  Their  groans  and  piercing  shrieks  were 
heart-rending.  The  heavy  fragments  of  the 
broken  cars  were  thrown  upon  their  mangled 
limbs,  and  in  many  instances  this  disaster  com 
pleted  what  Shiloh  had  commenced.  As  we 
came  down,  I  passed  through  the  train  amongst 
the  wounded.  Some  had  lost  an  arm,  several 
an  upper  lip,  as  many  an  under  lip.  Through 
the  body  of  one  six  balls  had  passed.  They 
were  wounded  in  the  feet,  the  hands,  the  head, 
and  the  body;  and  some  who  had  not  been 
touched  by  ball  or  bullet  were  paralyzed  by 
their  proximity  to  the  exploding  shells.  Truly 
every  battle  is  with  confused  noise  and  gar 
ments  rolled  in  blood.  I  remained  some  time 
at  the  destroyed  train,  aiding  in  extricating 
those  buried  beneath  the  ruins.  The  extent  of 
the  damage  and  destruction  of  life,  I  never 
25 


290  THE   IRON   FURNACE;   OR 


accurately  learned.  It  must,  however,  have 
been  great.  The  catastrophe  was  occasioned  by 
a  stick  of  wood  falling  from  the  tender  before 
the  wheels  of  the  adjacent  car,  which,  being 
thrown  from  the  track,  precipitated  the  whole 
train  down  the  embankment. 

For  weeks  after  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  little 
was  done  by  Federals  or  Confederates.  The 
rebels  firmly  believed  that  Corinth  could  not  be 
taken.  Its  evacuation  discouraged  the  people 
exceedingly.  Nothing  but  disasters  had  befallen 
them  since  the  year  commenced.  Zollikoffer 
had  been  slain,  and  Crittenden  defeated,  at 
Fishing  Creek.  Eoanoke  Island  had  been 
captured.  Forts  Henry,  Donelson,  Pulaski,  St. 
Philip,  and  Jackson  had  been  reduced.  Island 
"No.  10"  was  taken,  and  New  Orleans  had 
fallen.  The  bloody  field  of  Shiloh  had  pro 
ved  disastrous;  and  now,  even  Corinth,  the 
boasted  Gibraltar  of  rebeldom,  fortified, by  the 
"best  engineer  on  the  continent,"  and  defended 
by  the  whole  army  of  the  southwest,  had  been 
evacuated.  What,  under  these  circumstances, 
could  resist  the  progress  of  Halleck  to  the 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  291 

Gulf?    Many  saw  the  cause  of  these  disasters  in 
the  fact  that  the  rebel  generals  had  made  their 
attacks  upon  the  Union  troops  upon  the  Sab 
bath;  and  all  history  confirms  the  truth  that 
the  army  attacking  on  the  Sabbath  is  almost 
invariably  defeated.     Universal  gloom  and  an 
all-pervading   spirit   of   despondency,   brooded 
over  the  whole  southern  people.     Had  the  rebel 
army  been  crushed  at  Corinth,  or  had  Beaure- 
gard  been  vigorously  pursued,   and  forced  to 
fight  or  surrender,  the  war   in  the  southwest 
would  have  been  terminated.      General  Kose- 
crans  informed  me  that  they  could  have  crushed 
the  rebels  at  Corinth,  and  on  my  asking  him 
why  it  was  not  done,  he  replied:  "It  would 
have  been  done  at  the  cost  of  many  lives  on 
both  sides,  and  it  is  not  our  desire  to  sacrifice 
life  unnecessarily.     Let  Beauregard  go  down  to 
the  swamps  of  Mississippi;  he  can  do  us  no 
injury.     It  is  not  probable  that  he  will  ever 
return  to  Corinth  to  attack  us,  and  they  must 
starve  out  in  a  section  which  never  produced 
enough  to  sustain  its  own  population."      But 
Beauregard  did  not  remain  long  in  the  swamps 


292 

of  Mississippi.  He  took  the  flower  of  his  army 
and  hastened  on  to  Kichmond,  to  reinforce 
General  Lee,  who  immediately  gave  battle  to 
McClellan,  and  drove  him  from  the  Peninsula. 
Halleck  should  never  have  suffered  McClellan 
to  be  compelled  to  fight  both  Lee's  forces  and 
Beauregard's,  whilst  his  own  army  was  merely 
protecting  rebel  property  and  consuming  ra 
tions.  I  think  General  Rosecrans,  had  he  been 
in  chief  command,  would  not  have  thus  acted ; 
and  his  statement  to  me  was  a  mere  apology  for 
the  conduct  of  his  superior,  for  his  policy  has 
ever  been  vigorous,  and  the  rebels  dread  him 
more  than  any  living  man.  The  lamented 
Lyon  also  inspired  a  similar  wholesome  dread. 
I  saw  much  of  General  Kosecrans.  He  is 'a 
genial,  pleasant  gentleman.  He  seems  desirous 
of  accomplishing  his  end  by  the  use  of  mild 
means ;  but  if  these  will  not  effect  the  object, 
the  reverse  policy  is  resorted  to.  The  rebels 
dread,  yet  respect  him.  He  will  do  much  to 
oblige  a  friend.  I  desired  at  one  time  to  go 
with  my  family  beyond  the  Federal  lines. 
General  Kosecrans  went  in  person  to  General 


SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION.  293 

Pope  to  obtain  a  pass ;  but  Pope's  orders  were 
that  no  passes  should  be  issued  for  a  specified 
time.  General  Kosecrans  then  asked  and 
obtained  permission  to  send  one  of  his  aids 
with  us,  who  conducted  us  beyond  the  pickets, 
a  distance  of  five  miles.  This  act,  the  General 
remarked,  was  in  consideration  of  the  kindness 
I  had  shown  himself  and  staff  while  in  Eienzi. 
The  Federal  generals  committed  a  great  mis 
take  in  desiring  to  overrun  the  country  without 
destroying  the  rebel  armies.  A  physician  who 
drives  a  disease  from  one  limb  only  to  appear 
in  a  more  aggravated  form  in  another,  accom 
plishes  nothing.  And  when  a  general  permits 
a  hostile  army  to  change  its  location  as  a  stra 
tegic  movement,  he  has  -accomplished  nothing, 
except  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy. 
The  rebels  estimated  their  forces  at  the  battle 
of  Shiloh  at  eighty  thousand.  Though  con 
siderable  accessions  had  been  received,  yet  in 
consequence  of  sickness  and  desertion,  their 
number  was  about  the  same  at  the  evacuation 
.of  Corinth.  They  lost  about  eleven  thousand, 
slain,  wounded,  and  prisoners,  in  the  battle. 
25* 


294:  THE   IRON   FURNACE;    OR 

War  has  a  tendency  to  engender  great 
bitterness  of  feeling  between  the .  belligerents. 
The  secessionists  hate  the  northern  people, 
but  not  with  the  intensity  of  hatred  which 
they  exercise  toward  the  Union-loving  citi 
zens  of  the  South.  In  South  Carolina,  in 
the  days  of  nullification,  the  nullifiers  and 
Union  men  were  very  bitter  in  their  hostility 
against  each  other.  After  the  suppression  of 
nullification  by  General  Jackson,  the  cause 
being  removed,  the  enmity  ceased,  and  in  a 
short  time,  the  odium  attached  to  nullification 
became  so  great,  that  few  would  admit  that 
they  had  been  nullifiers.  Let  the  supremacy 
of  the  law  and  the  Constitution  be  enforced, 
and  a  few  years  hence,  few,  even  in  the 
South,  will  be  found  willing  to  admit  that 
they  were  secessionists.  The  descendants  of 
the  Tories  carefully  conceal  their  genealogy; 
the  descendants  of  the  secessionists  will  do  the 
the  same.  Slavery  and  secession  will  perish 
together;  and  the  classes  of  the  South  who 
have  been  fearfully  injured  by  both  these 
heresies,  will  be  fully  compensated  for  their 


SLAVERY   AND   SECESSION.  295 

present  distress  by  the  vast  blessings  which  will 
accrue  to  themselves  and  posterity  by  the  abo 
lition  of  an  institution  which  has  degraded 
labour,  oppressed  the  poor  white  man,  opposed 
progress,  retarded  the  development  of  the  coun 
try's  resources,  taken  away  the  key  of  know 
ledge,  caused  every  species  of  vice  to  flourish, 
impoverished  the  people,  enriched  a  favoured 
class  at  the  expense  of  the  masses,  caused  woes 
unnumbered  to  a  whole  race — in  short,  has 
been  the  prolific  parent  of  fraud,  oppression, 
lust,  tyranny,  murder,  and  every  other  crime 
in  the  dark  catalogue. 


'We  are  living,  we  are  dwelling 
In  a  grand  and  awful  time; 

In  an  age,  on  ages  telling, 
To  be  living  is  sublime ! 

Hark !  the  waking  up  of  nations, 
Gog  and  Magog  to  the  fray; 

Hark !  what  soundeth — is  creation 
Groaning  for  its  latter  day  ? 

Will  ye  play,  then?  will  ye  dally 
With  your  music  and  your  wine  ? 

Up !  it  is  Jehovah's  rally ! 

God's  own  arm  hath  need  of  thine. 


296  THE   IRON   FURNACE. 

Hark!  the  onset!  will  ye  fold  your 
Faith-clad  arms  in  lazy  lock; 

Up  !  oh,  up !  thou  drowsy  soldier, 
Worlds  are  charging  to  the  shock! 

Worlds  are  charging ;  heaven  beholding  j 
Thou  hast  but  an  hour  to  fight; 

Now  the  blazoned  cross  unfolding, 
On  !  right  onward  for  the  right. 

On!  let  all  the  soul  within  you, 
For  the  truth's  sake  go  abroad ; 

Strike!  let  every  nerve  and  sinew 
Tell  on  ages, — tell  for  God!" 


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